If Only I Could
by Mewlon
Summary: Namine was the quiet girl whom everyone picked on. When Axel gives her a box of magic color pencils in which she draws a prince named Riku. With the full moon, she is transported to a world raging in war. Now she must chose to go home or stay. NaminexRiku
1. Chapter 1

_Hey there, everyone. It has been a long time since I written anything at all fanfic wise. However, I hope this story becomes a really good one. I would like to dedicate this story to the people that supported me with my KH fandom and such and also to the people that like strange couples. Enjoy!_

_This story is an AU. The main couples of this fanfic are Namine and Riku. There are some hints of Sora x Kairi, Roxas x Olette, Cloud x Aerith, and maybe...some Axel x ?_

_I don't own anything. Everything belongs to Square Enix._

**If Only I Could**

**Chapter One: The Magic Pencils**

The beautiful rays from the sun peeked through the open window of a tiny little house that stood on the corner of the tiny road. The rays lightly touched the pale walls of a white colored room. The walls were decorated with drawings of different people and places that only one could imagine. The ray slowly crept down from the walls and towards a sleeping figure. The sleeping figure was a young girl with medium length blond hair which played around her neck and face. Her pale complexion complemented her satin sheets.

The ray of light managed to stir the girl as it touched her eyelid. She slowly opened her eyes to reveal a pair of baby blues. The girl slowly sat up on her bed and yawned a bit. The girl looked down at her alarm clock and smiled a bit. She had woken up ten minutes before her alarm would set off. Taking this opportunity, the young girl got off from her bed and scurried out from her room and into the hallway. She quickly headed off to a certain room and entered it. The good thing about her waking up early was the fact that the bathroom was all hers before her sister woke up. She closed the door and locked it. It was a bad habit of her older sister to be taking up

Approximately five minutes after the young girl entered the shower, another figure walked down the hall. This one was another young girl who was around the same age as the blond, but she was a red head. Her ocean blue eyes sparkled as much as the blond girl's baby blue eyes. As the red head girl reached the door she placed her hand on the knob and tried to turn it. However, it would not budge at all. Frustrated at this, the red head girl knocked on the door.

"Namine, are you in there?" the red head girl asked.

"Yeah, I'm in here, Kairi," Namine answered. "It seems I beat you again to the bathroom."

"That's not fair, you cheater," Kairi joked, "you're waking up earlier and earlier. Pretty soon, I doubt you'll go to sleep since you want to beat me to the bathroom."

"Girls!" a voice from the kitchen called out. "Breakfast is almost ready. Hurry up if you want to have breakfast before you go to school!"

"You hear that, Namine?" Kairi asked. "You better hurry up so I can get ready or we'll be late for school."

"The only reason why we're late is because you take forever to gussy up so you can look good for your boyfriend, Sora," Namine giggled as she was finishing fixing her. She took off her pale pink nightgown and hung it on the hangar. She then took the white dress which she replaced the nightgown with and wore it. She found her sandals and wore them as well.

"That's not funny!" Kairi chided. "Don't use Sora as an excuse...besides...you think I look pretty enough for him?"

"I don't think he cares what you look like," Namine said as she opened the door, "as long as you're yourself."

"That's so sweet...but I still need to dress into something."

Kairi walked passed Namine and closed the bathroom door behind her. Namine just shook her head and headed down to the kitchen where she could smell pancakes. Namine smiled as she knew that her mother had been busy trying to make them a good breakfast. As Namine reached the dining table, she spotted her father behind the newspaper. She could tell it was him by the flock of red hair that was sticking out.

"Morning, Daddy," Namine said as she sat down next to her father.

"Morning, Namine," the red head man said as he lowered down the newspaper to smile at her daughter. "Where's your sister?"

"She's taking forever in the bathroom."

"I swear...you allow a girl her age to date a boy and then you see your little princess become some sort of drama queen."

"Oh, don't over exaggerate," Namine's mother said as she came from the kitchen. Her short blond hair covered a bit of her face, but it didn't get in the way of her vision. She placed the pancakes down on the table. "I swear Reno; you probably forgot how we were back when we were young."

"How could I forget that, Elena?" Reno replied. "I bet you missed the wild me."

"Not a single moment."

"Wha?!" Reno dropped his newspaper as he eyed his wife.

Elena turned around to stiffen the giggle that almost escaped her lips. She knew several ways to really ruffle Reno's feathers up, just as he knew ways to really infuriate her. Namine looked over at her parents as Reno got up from his seat and tried to talk to Elena about the whole thing. Namine couldn't help but smile at this. At least she was happy at home. Suddenly, Kairi walked over to the dining area. She had fixed herself up and looked very pretty. Her face had light pink eye shadow and lip gloss which complimented her pink dress.

"Mom...Dad...what on earth are you doing?" Kairi asked as she looked at her parents with a strange look on her face.

"Nothing at all," Reno replied as he was currently tickling Elena, "just eat your pancakes then off to school!"

"Heh heh, you guys are so weird," Kairi giggled as she sat down next to Namine and began to serve herself pancakes.

Once breakfast was over, Kairi and Namine walked towards their school. The roads were covered in sand since their town was close to the beach. The sweet breeze played around with the girls' locks as they tried to enjoy their morning walk.

"Oy! Kairi! Namine!" a voice shouted.

Kairi and Namine turned around to see who it was that was calling them. Running across the street was a young man with spiky chestnut colored locks which defied gravity. As he smiled, his sapphire colored eyes burn brightly with youth. His black shorts and shirt danced along with the wind as he finally reached the girls. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath.

"Hey, I finally caught up," he said through labored breaths.

"Sora, you're late!" Kairi playfully said. "You overslept again, didn't you?"

"Uh...maybe?" Sora giggled as he placed a bashful hand behind his head.

"Hi, Sora," Namine said softly.

Sora exclaimed in his cheery voice. It seemed like nothing could ever break his mood.

"We should hurry up to school," Kairi said, "If we don't, you know what Professor Highwind would do."

"Oh yeah..." Sora remembered the last time he arrived late to class. Professor Highwind wasn't too merciful.

Quickly, the trio headed off towards their school. Once they managed to run through the crowded hallways, they reached their classroom. Just as they entered, Namine was pushed aside from the figure that came inside the classroom.

"Get out of my way, loser," said a young man whose blond hair was covered by a black beanie. The short blue shirt he wore was covered by his long white trench coat that he wore. Standing next to him was a taller boy wearing a red shirt and dark color pants. His spiky black hair stood out in a strange direction. The other person was a smaller girl with silver hair which covered one of her ruby colored eyes. Her soft navy blue shirt and khaki pants didn't say much about her.

"Don't stand in the way of Seifer, ya know!" spoke the taller boy.

"Wallflower," replied the shorter girl.

"I...I'm sorry..." Namine replied.

"Hey!" Kairi growled. "Leave her alone, Seifer."

"It's not my fault that your sister is nothing more than an obstacle to get into class, right, Rai and Fuu?"

"You're always right, Seifer, ya know!" Rai replied.

"Always," Fuu added in.

"You jerks!" Kairi shouted.

"What's going on here?" a deep voice from behind the group spoke. The teenagers turned around to meet into the dark, icy stare of one of their other professors. This man's dark colored eyes were a bit emotionless and strict. His brown locks managed to cover parts of his face but not even to cover his strange scar that touched right above his nose. His black jacket and pants defined his body but it still gave him a professional look to him. "Take your seats, children," he said, "I have a bit of news for you."

"Yes, Professor Leonhart," the teens replied as they took their appropriate seats.

Professor Squall Leonhart, or Leon, as some of the students liked to call him leaned against the wall as he tried to think of a way to break it down to the children. "Listen up," he said, "I have some news concerning your English teacher, Cid Highwind. As of now, he has quitted his job in order for him to become, and I say in his words, an airline pilot. Don't ask me why. Either way, it was difficult for us to find another teacher in such a short amount of time but Headmaster Cid has found a temporarily replacement. Please greet your new teacher Professor Axel...um...I can't read his last name on this piece of paper."

"Professor Axel will do just fine," said a young man. Walking inside the classroom was a young man, perhaps a bit younger than Professors Leonhard, with fiery red hair. His green eyes shimmered with such radiant energy and playfulness. What was strange and rather unprofessional looking were the tattoos which were under his eyes. Not to mention the clothing he was wearing. Tight leather pants with black boots. He had a black leather jacket which he hung over his shoulder. Touching his jacket was a dark red shirt with a zipper. "I'll take over from here, Leon."

"Tch, whatever," Leon replied as he left the classroom.

"Alright kids," Axel said as he placed his black jacket on the chair. "I'm your new professor from now on. My name's Axel, A-X-E-L, got that memorized? You all can call me that from now on. I may have graduated from Balamb University not too long ago, but I've worked on quite an amount of internships with many students such as yourselves. Alright...can anyone tell me what the old fart was teaching you before I came?"

Axel's comment earned him a couple of giggles from the children in the class. One of the children raised their hand in the air. It was a young girl with long black hair and dark amber eyes. Her top was a light yellow shirt with a white blouse that held it together. Her yellow pants touched her frame softly.

"Yeah, you...um...Miss...?" Axel said.

"Garnet Til Alexandros, sir. Professor Highwind was lecturing us on old Midgardian literature," Garnet said. "We were on the story of the Great Meteor Strike."

Axel picked up a copy of the literature book and looked at it with a puzzled look. "This is a story about a soldier who defied an entire government. He fell in love with a flower girl who was killed by a crazed lunatic who summoned a meteor. With his small mercenary group, the soldier defeated the lunatic and saved the world. Bah! Overrated stuff. That story has been on everyone's agenda like Romeo and Juliette, so let's do something different. I hope you're all ready for some fun planned ahead of us."

After class had finished, Sora and Kairi had gotten their lunch and sat next to Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette. All six were waiting for Namine to come out from the lunch line and to sit with them. Namine looked rather disgusted with the day's lunch. It appeared to be something that was considered food, but she wasn't too sure if it could be edible. Not being one to complain, Namine made her way towards her friends. Just as she was half way over to her friends, she had to pass Seifer's group. Seifer placed his foot down in front of Namine's path. Namine soon tripped and fell on the hard ground. The strange substance that was to be her lunch was now all over her hair. Her white dress was now stained horribly.

"Oops, better what where you're going, Namine," Seifer chuckled. "Oh wow...looks like those stains won't be coming off that dress."

Namine slowly got up and looked around her. Everyone apparently found that to be funny and began to laugh at her misfortune. Namine's eyes began to burn up a bit as she never felt so embarrassed in her life. Just then a soft hand landed on her shoulder. Namine looked over at the young man with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. His clothing consisted of a black shirt which was covered with a white jacket. His dark pants had white coverings on them.

"Leave her alone, you jerk," the blond boy said.

"What are you going to do about it, Roxas?" Seifer asked. "You gonna fight me for it?"

"I don't normally like to fight a pointless battle, but I'm not going to back off until you apologize to Namine."

"What if I don't?"

"You seriously don't want to know what happens if you don't."

"You can't talk to Seifer like that, ya know!" Rai shouted as he was ready to back up Seifer.

"Well, it looks like its two against one," Seifer chided.

"You're forgetting about me!" Sora said as he stepped in front of Namine.

"So what? You two brotherly dorks don't scare me."

"Hey! You're forgetting us too!" another blond boy with camouflage pants said. "Pence and I stand by our friends."

"Right, Hayner," a raven haired plump boy known as Pence replied.

"So what now, Seifer?" Sora asked.

"Please, don't fight!" Namine said as she tried to break up the group. "I don't want any trouble."

"Trouble is what you got," Seifer sneered.

"Okay, break it up, break it up!" another professor interrupted the fight. "We don't tolerate anything like that. Mr. Almasy, I saw you trip poor Namine not too long ago. Now I don't know about you, but that earns you a detention, young man."

"What? You gotta be kidding me, Professor Locke."

"Hey, Seifer can't get a detention, ya know." Rai replied.

"Oh, that earns you a detention too, Rai." Locke replied.

"Idiot..." Fuu replied as Professor Locke managed to drag off Seifer and Rai.

Namine let out a sigh of relief as there was not going to be a fight. She wasn't too sure about later on, but she needed to hope anyway. She was taken over to her friends' table and sat down next to a brunette girl with green eyes. Olette, the other girl of the group looked over at Namine.

"Namine, are you okay?" Olette asked.

"Yes...I'm fine," Namine replied.

"You didn't look so okay back there," Roxas said. "You know if you ever have any trouble that we'll be here for you, okay?"

"Yeah...I know...I just don't know why...they don't like me...or that everyone thinks that I'm a dork."

"Dork? You?" Sora said as he pointed at her. "Come on! The only one that's a dork is me."

"Yep, that's Sora's job," Roxas agreed. "You can't get much dorkier than that."

"Hey!"

"So then, Namine, want to go clean up?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah...that might be a good idea."

The rest of the day didn't go as bad as it did during lunch, but it wasn't that great either. Namine had a hard time avoiding getting glared at by Seifer, Rai, and Fuu and the jeers that were going behind her back. However, she didn't mind, she was busy drawing a picture. If there was something she loved to do it was to draw the things that go through her head. Namine had begun to draw a picture of a young man. She ended up drawing a boy that looked so much like Roxas. Namine let out a small blush on her face as she realized this.

_I can't draw this, _she thought as she began to erase part of the picture. As she managed to draw the young man again, she ended up drawing Sora this time. _Oh...not another one, _she thought. Namine let out a sigh as she looked at her picture. A frown began to play on her face. _I don't know what's wrong with me..._she thought, _I can't seem to get over this. I've always had a crush on Sora and Roxas ever since I was little, but my sister, Kairi ended up going out with Sora and Roxas has Olette as a girlfriend. I am not jealous or anything of Kairi or Olette...it's just that...I wish I could have been bolder like they are. I guess that's the problem with me._

Namine erased the picture completely and began to draw a new figure on there. The figure she began to draw was taller than Roxas and Sora and a bit more built than they were. She gave the young man medium length hair which part of it covered his eyes. She gave him such unique clothing that no one has ever seen before. Once she was done drawing the young man she looked at him and smiled. _Wow, _she thought, _I drew him even more handsome than I intended to. Now to give him a name. Hmm...I think I'll name this guy Riku, Prince Riku of...the Hallow Bastion Kingdom. I'll draw the background later._

Just then the bell rang which meant that school ended, however, not for Namine. She gathered her stuff and headed out towards the art room. She sat down in one of the chairs and waited for the art club meeting to beginning. Always the first one there, Namine felt nothing but the emptiness of the room. She didn't mind it at all, but she didn't like it. The emptiness reminded her too much of herself.

Eventually the other members as well as the sponsor came into the room to start the meeting. As the president was talking to the entire group, Namine sat in the back, still working on the picture of Prince Riku. She smiled a bit as she added in a nice moonlight background. She added in a couple of trees and hills. At the far end of the picture, Namine a castle on top of a hill.

Once the meeting was over, Namine walked out from the room and headed towards her home. She often walked alone when she had club meetings since pretty much all her friends left as soon as school was over on that day. Just as Namine was about to leave the school grounds, she felt a dark chilly feeling come over her. A dark shadow lingered over her.

Seifer barked as he caught up to Namine. "You really caused me a lot of trouble today."

"S-Seifer!" Namine said as she turned to see an unhappy Seifer. "I...I'm sorry."

"Sorry is not good enough! This is the fourth time you got me into detention."

"I...I didn't mean to..."

"Shut up! You really enjoy making me suffer, don't you?"

"No! I..."

"Silence! You're not supposed to talk when Seifer is talking, ya know!" Rai added in.

"However, I think I know how we can solve this problem," Seifer said as he eyed both Rai and Fuu. "Rai, hold her down while Fuu, you look for anything in her bag."

Rai took a hold of Namine in a firm grip. Namine tried to wriggle out of Rai's grasp, but he was just too strong. Fuu began to search Namine's bag. She searched and eventually found Namine's sketchbook. She showed it to Seifer as she opened up the book to reveal all of Namine's artwork.

"I see...so this is the dork's sketchbook," Seifer said as he flipped through the pages. "These pictures are all very well drawn; did you spend a lot of time drawing them?"

"Y-yes," Namine replied as she felt a shiver creep over her. "Please...leave my sketches alone. I worked so hard on them and they mean a lot to me."

"Aw...all I want to do is contribute to them." Seifer took out a black sharpie which he kept in his pockets for graffiti purposes. He then began to scribble with the sharpie over all of Namine's pictures. "Oh...I'm sorry...I'm so clumsy. I guess there goes Mr. Unicorn and dragon over there. And now your picture of the beach is gone."

"NO! Stop it!" Namine shouted as she tried to break free from Rai's grip. "Please...leave my drawings alone!"

"Oh...I guess you don't like my art..." Seifer said as he stopped right in front of the picture of Prince Riku. "Who's this guy suppose to be? Your imaginary boyfriend? Only a dork like you would draw her own boyfriend since you can't really get yourself a real one. I think it's time I teach you about the real world out there. Get your head out of the clouds and see what's it like to live...in this world. Starting by getting rid of your fake boyfriend."

Seifer tore the picture out from Namine's sketchbook and held it in front of Namine's face. Namine cried and shouted for Seifer to stop, but her cries ended up on deaf ears. Seifer took a hold of the paper and ripped it into two. Namine could feel her heart break as Seifer tore up the drawing into more tiny pieces. Once he was done, he tossed the papers into the air. He signaled Rai to release her in which he did. The trio then left Namine to wallow in her sorrow. Namine picked up the pieces of her drawing, but the wind managed to blow some of the pieces away.

She then grabbed her sketchbook and looked at it. All of her beautiful artwork was now ruined by the black sharpie. Tears welled up in her eyes as she closed the book and held it close to her body as though she was holding an infant and cradling it.

"Whoa, you okay?" Axel asked as he knelt down to Namine's eye level.

"I...no..." Namine said as she tried her best not to cry in front of her new teacher.

"What happened?"

Namine didn't reply. All she did was show Axel her sketchbook.

"I see...being picked on and such. Well...lucky for you...I think I might have something for your pretty pieces of art." Axel searched through his bag before he pulled out a wooden box. "You know what this is? This is a special box that holds magical pencils. It was given to a friend of mine by a dark witch. My friend passed away and gave me this box. Since I have no further used for it, you can have it. I wasn't much of an artist, but you...I think you'll make better use of it. After all, you're quite the artist yourself."

"T-thank you..." Namine replied as she slowly got up from the ground and headed off home. Axel eyed her fragile figure as she disappeared into the darkness. _Perhaps...you might be able to do a lot more than I did..._he thought.

Namine ran as fast as she could. As she ran, she felt drops fall on her. At first she thought it was her own tears that were falling from her eyes, but once she looked at the sky, she noticed that drops of rain began to fall from the sky. At first the rain came down slowly from the sky but soon it poured endlessly. Namine's clothing was soaked horribly that the stains from the food began to run down her white dress. Once she reached her home she opened the front door to the house slowly, as to not alarm anyone with her presences.

In the living room, Kairi was busy talking with Sora. Both teens were trying to do homework, well at least Kairi was. Sora was too busy playing around with his pencil. Namine slowly crept behind the couch they were sitting in. Once she was about to reach the stairs, she froze.

"Namine? Is that you?" Kairi asked. At that moment, Namine quickly ran up the stairs. She dropped her soaked sketchbook on the ground and tried to cover her faces as tears rolled down her face. Kairi quickly ran behind Namine, but was stopped as soon as Namine slammed the door to her room and locked it. Sora walked over to foot of the stairs and picked up Namine's ruined sketchbook. He looked at the pictures and noticed that they were ruined with a black sharpie and one of the pictures was signed in bold letters. _Seifer, _he thought as he shook his head.

"Namine, open the door," Kairi said as she knocked on the door softly. "Mom and Dad were worried about you."

"Just please...go away," Namine squealed as she tried to hold her crying.

Kairi frowned but obeyed her sister. She knew once Namine got into this mode, it will take her a while before she can be open again. Inside of her room, Namine cried in the corner. Soaking wet and cold, she slowly walked over to her closet and changed into another white dress she had. She then took up her blanket and wrapped it around her body. Underneath her bed, Namine kept a lot of art supplies. She took out a small sketchbook and opened it to the last two blank pages. Searching through her bag, Namine took out the box of colored pencils that Axel gave her and opened the box.

She looked at the pencils and smiled a bit. The pencils were in great conditions, even though a couple of them were smaller than others. She took out a flesh colored pencil and began to draw. It must have been three hours before Namine was finished drawing the picture. She ended up using the silver pencil a lot. What she ended up drawing was another picture of Riku and the castle.

_There you go, Riku, _Namine thought as she managed to redraw Riku once again. _This time I'll make sure nothing happens to you again. _Namine looked out the window to see the clear moon. It looked so beautiful to Namine that evening. She loved the moon and she guessed that's why she gave Riku silver hair. She thought he would be the "Prince of the Dark Side of the Moon" or something. Slowly, Namine brought herself down on the floor. She felt quite tired and slowly but surely, slept peacefully. Unbeknown to Namine, the rays of the moon shun down on the picture she drew. The lines of the picture turned from their original color to a silvery bright color. A strange light emitted from the color pencils and began to engulf her room.

Outside of Namine's room, Elena was walking up the stairs. She was holding a small tray of food in which she hoped her younger daughter would eat it. "Namine," Elena asked as she reached the child's room, "I brought you food." Elena knocked on the door softly. When no answer came she began to worry. Just then, Elena saw the strange light come out from Namine's room. She dropped the tray of food. "Namine? Namine!" Elena shouted as she tried to open the door. "Reno! Come quick!"

"What is it?" Reno asked as he ran up the stairs.

"Something weird is going on in Namine's room," Elena shouted as she tried to jiggle the doorknob.

"Move," Reno shouted as he took a hold of the knob. Once he knew that he couldn't open the door that way, he began to ram the door with his shoulder. With one last push, Reno managed to open the door. However, the light from the room disappeared...along with any traces of Namine.

_Yay, first chapter is done! I hope this turns out okay for a first chapter. Enjoy!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Okay, here's chapter two to my story! _

**If Only I Could**

**Chapter Two: Avalon**

Namine stirred in her sleep. She shivered a bit as she felt quite cold. Slowly, she opened her eyes. At first she saw nothing but darkness but snapped right up. Her eyes scanned the unknown area she was in. She was no longer in her white washed room that was filled with her scribbles but rather out into the darkness of a deep forest. The only source of light seemed to be the moon. Namine quickly got to her feet and began to walk forward. _Where...am I? _She thought as she continued to walk. _Is this a dream of some sort? If it is...then...why does it all feel so real? _Namine walked through the woods for a solid fifteen minutes.

Once she stepped over this small hedge, she tripped on a rogue branch and fell on the hard cold ground. Her white dress was beginning to get dirty from the dirt and muck that was in the forested area. As Namine continued her journey, she was beginning to feel even more scared and insecure. Suddenly, she saw a clearing in the forest. Namine ran through the rough flora. The stray branches clung onto her clothing and skin. Scratches and scrapes began tamper with her skin. Namine made it to the clearing.

The first thing that caught her eye made the young blonde's jaw drop in awe. Before her were a set of hills and on top of one of the hills was a large castle that looked exactly like the one she drew for Riku's picture. _This...can't be, _she thought. _This must be some sort of a dream. I dozed off and Mother will come on by and wake me up to go to dinner soon. Yeah...so in the mean time I'll just look on at the castle. _

Namine looked on in awe at the castle before her. Suddenly, a soft rustling noise caught her attention. She slowly turned her head to look back at the forest. She didn't see anything through the darkness, but the noise kept getting louder and louder. Namine began to back away from the forest entrance. Just then a twig snapped which caused Namine to scream. The figure that was lurking in the darkness jumped out from the forest and pounced on Namine.

Namine squealed as she tried to push her intruder away from her. Slim hands took a hold of Namine's wrists and held them down on the ground. "Hey," said the voice of the intruder, "calm down...I'm not here to hurt you." Namine examined the figure that was on top of her. It was a young girl, probably around her age, with short blond hair that stuck out. Her eyes were a soft green but had swirls on them which Namine found to be odd. Her orange shirt stuck close to her body. Her green shorts had frills on them and almost touched her leg gear. "Hi!" the girl said. "My name is Rikku, what's your name?"

"N-Namine..." Namine replied as she felt a bit less tense.

"Namine, huh?" Rikku said as she got off from Namine's body. "You know, you shouldn't be here by yourself, it's dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

"Or did you forget about the entire war that's going on through Avalon?"

"War?" Namine was more confused than ever.

"Jeez, silly. Everyone knows about the war that's going on, on this side of Gaia. I followed you here because you were heading off to Castle Oblivion. You don't want to go there. The town of Hallow Bastion isn't a safe place for outsiders to go to anymore. Besides...another reason why I followed you here is because you descended from the sky."

"Oh...I...descended from the sky?!" Namine's blue eyes opened widely when she heard that sentence.

"Yeah! Aren't you some sort of a sorceress or something? Or a mage? I think only those can fly." Just then Rikku took out her cat claw. "You're not a Jenova Warrior...are you?"

"Jen what?" Namine was starting to feel a bit scared at the moment.

"Hmm...Judging by your looks...you don't look like one of them. Let me see your eyes." Rikku took a hold of Namine's face and looked deeply into her eyes. Rikku then let out a sigh of relief as she released her. "Okay...you don't have the Mako eyes."

"What are Mako eyes?"

"Mako eyes are the symbol of a Jenova Warrior. It's a process in which they used some fluid called Mako. They dip their warriors and supporting citizens in it to show off their unity and loyalty to the Jenova Empire. Their leader is a cruel, ruthless man who enjoys watching others suffer and die. That's why it isn't a good idea to go to Castle Oblivion...he's residing there right now."

"Um...Rikku...can I ask you a question?" Namine asked. "If it's so dangerous...why are you near it?"

"I was sent by the other guys to do some espionage work. Those jerks are so cowardly that they have to send me to do that. Now...if you don't mind, you should go home or something while I continue my work..."

"I don't think that will be necessary," a soft male voice spoke behind the girls. "After all, Rikku, you're getting sloppier and sloppier."

Both blond girls shook in terror as a young man stood behind them. His short, silver colored hair covered part of his face. His slim and pale complexion really contrasted his black leather body suit that he wore. Strapped near his waist were two katanas. The young man looked so much like Namine's Riku drawing, but the one thing that separated them were the strange cat like eyes and the dark malice that surrounded the young man.

"R-Riku?" Namine asked softly. Rikku looked over at Namine.

"What?"

"No...I mean there was...or should be a guy...he looks like him."

"Riku?" the young man asked. "You're sadly mistaken...I'm far more superior than that brat. Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking you to see Ultimecia. She's been expecting you...White Witch of Legend."

Namine froze for a bit. "White...Witch?"

"You're the White Witch?" Rikku asked.

"I don't even know what that is. This...this is all some sort of a dream. I drew this scenery and very soon I'm going to wake up and be back home..."

"Drew...?"

"You see? Undeniable proof that this girl is the White Witch! If you were wise, you'd leave now, Rikku before I decide to kill you right now."

"You'll have to get through me in order to get to her," Rikku shouted as she readied her weapon. "Namine, run away! Get away from this man as far as possible! He's evil!"

"Enough!" the young man shouted as he took out his katana and rushed at Rikku.

Rikku dodged the first strike but didn't dodge the second one as it slashed her right leg. Rikku yelped as touched her wound. She quickly jumped out of the way before the young silver haired man stabbed her with his sword. Rikku searched through his tiny fanny pack and took out a grenade and threw it at the man. The man deflected the grenade away then slashed at Rikku. Rikku twirled her arm as she began to strike at the young man. One slash from her cat claw manage to cut the young man's cheek. The silver haired man placed his right hand on his cheek and snarled at Rikku.

"You're going to die for that, you brat!" The young man swung his blade crazily, trying to kill the blond thief.

Meanwhile, Namine scurried away from the battle. She didn't want to leave Rikku behind, but she didn't know what to do to help her. As Namine ran back into the forest, she tripped and fell into a huge pot hole. Namine let out a scream right before she fell to the bottom of the hole. Her scream alarmed both Rikku and the silver haired boy. The young man slashed at Rikku's left arm then he delivered a swift kick at her stomach. Rikku clutched her stomach as she ran out of air. The young man looked at the unconscious body of the blond girl and tried to resist the urge to kill her now. _Luckily for you, _he thought, _my mission is to only retrieve the White Witch. Next time we meet on the field...you're dead. _

The young man ran into the woods and began to search for Namine. Once he found her in the ditch, he smiled devilishly at the girl. The young man managed to pull out Namine from the ditch and began to drag her away towards Hallow Bastion. Namine struggled to get free, but a strong punch from the man rendered her unconscious. The young man then hoisted up Namine on his shoulders and carried her away.

When Namine managed to wake up, she found herself in a white room. The only things that were in the room were thirteen tall chairs. Each one of them had strange markings on them which Namine did not know what they meant. Namine tried to get up from the ground, but some strange force didn't allow her to move. She felt cold, scared, and lonely at this point. _Am I...going to die? _She thought as a tear trailed down her cheeks.

"She's awake," spoke the kidnapper as he walked in front of Namine. "I told you I didn't kill her."

"Yes, yes...I heard you the first time, Kadaj," replied another silver haired man. He looked exactly like the first one, but his hair was long and he seemed taller.

"Now Father and Grandmother won't yell at us, Yazoo," spoke another silver haired man. This man was buffer than the other two, but his silver hair was short and somewhat spiky. The bigger one began to whimper.

"Are you crying, Loz?" Kadaj asked.

"I'm not!" Loz shouted.

"Don't cry, Loz...don't cry," replied Yazoo.

"I told you, I'm not crying!"

"Silence, you twits!" a deep female voice shouted. All three men stopped their chattering and looked around them. Namine tried to move her head, but even so, she couldn't move that part. Her eyes were the only part of her body that she could move. However, out of the corner of her eye she saw a dark aura begin to form on one of the chairs. The dark aura took form of a woman with strange silver hair stuck out like two horns while two bangs fell down her face. Strange markings were on her face which Namine couldn't tell if they were tattoos or veins. Her dark make-up matched her strange revealing maroon dress. Black feathers decorated the v top of her dress which stopped at her breasts. However, the v cut continued down towards her bellybutton, exposing her purple tattoos on her body. A pair of black wings rested on her back.

"Ultimecia!" The three boys shouted.

"Kadaj...you've done well to bring me the White Witch," Ultimecia said, "now be gone with you and your useless brothers."

"Now, now, Ultimecia," chided a soft feminine male voice, "that's no way to talk to these children. After all, they did their job and they're still naive." From the darkness came a male figure. His hair was not silver, but snowy white. His long white locks touched his pale face. Feathers decorated his hair. His light blue eyes were as icy cold as a frozen river. His top was a purple jacket which only covered half of his upper torso. Long white sleeves covered his arms but stopped at his purple gloves. His lower torso was covered in a purple thong which was covered with a white veil. Around his waist was a long brown tail which doubled as a belt. His dark boots jingled as he swayed his tender hips when he walked over to Namine.

"Oh, it's only you, Kuja," Ultimecia replied.

"So...this is the White Witch of Legend," Kuja replied as he bent down. Kuja placed a hand on Namine's cheek and lifted her head to take a good look at her. "She is a pretty creature...but not as beautiful as me. Did you put her under some sort of spell?"

"A constraint spell so that she can't run away."

"I see," Kuja looked away from Namine and looked at Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz. "Children...you've done a good job. You can go now. You've deserve much rest."

"Thank you, Mother," the boys replied.

"I told you before; don't call me 'Mother'. I'm one of your creators, but I'm not a female!"

"I know, but..." Loz said, "You are our mother."

"Sigh...you know what? Just go." Kuja pointed towards the door. "When I need you again, I'll call you."

Kadaj and his brothers bowed to Kuja before they took their leave. Kuja smirked as he turned his attention back to Namine.

"Where is the emperor?" Ultimecia asked. "I'm growing impatient with him."

"Emperor Sephiroth is in a meeting with the Grand Wizard, Xemnas," Kuja scoffed. "It may take a while."

"You mean that I was sent here to babysit this brat? That bastard Sai'x said that they were on their way to see Namine."

"Heh, I suppose they only want you to make sure she doesn't escape."

"Ugh! Just throw this brat into the prison. I have much more important things to do!"

"Like what?" Kuja asked as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Like staying away from you. You disgust me."

"You're not such a looker yourself, old hag," Kuja replied as he lifted Namine off from the floor.

Without another word, Kuja levitated Namine and took her with him. They walked through dark hallways which were damp and smelled of old burnt oil and incense. Once they walked up a flight of stairs, Kuja and Namine ended up in a dark corridor which was filled with many cells. Kuja opened the first one using his magic and placed Namine inside. He closed the door with his magic and began to walk off.

"Wait!" Namine shouted as she rushed over to the bars of the cell. "Please...I don't know what's going on! Let me out! I don't know what you're talking about."

"Such innocent eyes..." Kuja replied as he looked over his shoulder. "It is a pity I'll have to break them soon." Without another word, Kuja left the prison.

"Wait! Don't leave! Let me out of here! I'm not a witch. I'm just a regular girl! Let me go...I want to go home..." Namine slowly slid down to the ground. Her hands were still on the bars of the cell. Tears began to threaten her sapphire eyes as she felt cold and lonely. _Where am I? _She thought as a tear fell down her cheek. _I'm scared and I'm cold. Mom, Dad, Kairi...where are you? _

"Psst! Namine, are you there?" a soft voice spoke.

"Huh? Rikku? Is that you?" Namine asked as she looked around her cell.

"I'm here by the window."

"Rikku!" Namine chirped as she looked over the window to see Rikku smiling at her. Namine got up from the ground and scurried to the window. "Rikku! You're alive!"

"Of course I am," replied the blond thief. "You think some stupid head like Kadaj could kill me? Listen, I'm going to get you out, but you're going to have to wait until I get help."

"Please hurry! I don't know what they're going to do to me."

"Just hold on Namine! I'll be back with help."

With that, Rikku left Namine and headed off towards the forest. Meanwhile, Namine sat down on the cold floor. The place was dark as the only source of light was a torch with a weak flame. She shivered a bit as the cold breeze touched her body. Namine placed a stray finger in her hair and stroked her golden locks. She felt something strange behind her ear. Namine pulled out what it was and saw that it was a blue color pencil.

"At least you'll keep me sane," she said softly as she placed the pencil on the ground. Namine began to draw little figurines on the floor. She ended up drawing a cute flower then drew another one. Once she drew five flowers, she stopped to look at them. She smiled a bit as she drew flowers that she had made up. "I think I'll call you Blue Hope," she said softly. Upon saying those words, the floor began to shift. Namine leaned against the wall as she saw five figures come up from the wall. The flowers she drew rose up from the floor and became real. Namine was shocked by all this. She leaned over and slowly stretched out her hand. Her fingertips touched one of the blue petals of the Blue Hope. The petals were soft, just as Namine had imagined them to be.

"Did what happened...just happened?" Namine asked herself as she looked at her hands. "White...Witch...could this be the power those weird guys were talking about? If I could create something...could I create...?" Namine took her blue color pencil and began to draw door on the wall which led to the outside. Once she finished drawing the door, she placed her hand on it. Just then door became real. Her hand moved over to the doorknob. She opened the door and looked at the outside. She quickly closed the door as soon as she saw how far up she was. "How did Rikku...? Never mind, I'll just have to find a way down stairs then draw a door there."

Namine walked over to the side of her cell and began to draw a door. Once she created it, Namine walked out and headed down the stairs which Kuja had brought her from. It seemed forever to Namine to walk down all those stairs. Once she made it to the final flight of stairs. She looked around for a place to draw her door. Just as she touched one of the walls, she heard footsteps coming her way. Quickly, Namine began to draw a door on the wall. She didn't care where it would lead to, just as long as she didn't get caught. Once she finished the door, she opened it and closed it.

Namine panted softly. Her heart must have been racing a million miles before she could relax. From the other side of the door, she could hear the footsteps. However, they stopped as they reached door. The knob slowly began to turn. Namine panicked as she pushed her body against the door. However, that didn't stop whoever was on the other side of the door. The person became rougher as they began to jiggle the hander harder. Namine squealed as she took up her color pencil and drew in two locks. She quickly bolted the door and moved away from it.

Even door the door was locked, that didn't stopped whoever was on the other side. Namine shivered as the person began to slam themselves against the door. The poor blond artist looked around the room to see if there was anything she could barricade the door with. All she saw around herself were clothes. Apparently Namine ended up in a closet of some sort. Slowly, she began to back away from the door she made. One of the slams managed to break one of the locks meaning that the door was going to come down soon.

Namine has to think fast. She ran through the closet doors and ended up in some strange bizarre bedroom. Without question, Namine slid underneath the blue satin covered bed. Namine covered her face trying to slow down her labor breathing. Soon she heard the door break open. Each footstep caused Namine's heart to pound faster and louder. She felt that each second was an eternity as the figure that broke through the door walked around the room. A pair of black boots stopped right in front of the bed. Namine could tell that whoever it was bending down to check what was under the bed. Suddenly another set of feet walked over to the bed.

"Loz, what are you doing here?!" An unknown male voice shouted.

"I saw something make a door in your closet, Seymour and I had to check it out," Loz replied.

"Of all the idiots...just get out of my room. We're going to be late to the meeting."

"But..."

"Out!"

"You're so mean!" Loz whimpered as he ran out from Seymour's room.

Seymour rolled his eyes as he left his room as well. Namine let out a sigh of relief as she rolled out from underneath the bed. She quickly ran out of the room and into the hallway. _No good, _she thought, _that wall led me to a room. If I'm not careful, who knows whose room I might end up in next._ Namine continued to walk down the dark corridor. She kept looking at the walls in hopes of finding a window which would lead to the outside. Eventually, Namine found a window. It was so high up that she couldn't tell where it would lead to.

However, she had little choice. Namine began to draw another door and opened it. She walked outside. Much to her surprise the door led to, what appeared to be, the courtyard. There were several strange floras that Namine has never seen before in her life. Exotic flowers of all sorts grew on the walls, on the ground, and even on the tiny moat the surrounded the castle. If she wasn't fleeing for her life, Namine would have taken the time to enjoy looking at the plant life. Running as fast as she could, the young artist ran towards the wall and began to draw another door. Just as she was about to finish, the lead of the pencil broke.

"Oh no!" Namine squeaked. She looked at the pencil and began to chew on the wood, trying to get some lead out. She spit out splinters and other pieces of the pencil. Finally she ended up with some lead and was about the continue drawing the door when a strong hand took hold of her wrist. Namine looked over at the man with long silver hair who was holding her. Yazoo smirked softly at Namine.

"You shouldn't be out here," Yazoo spoke in a soft tone, "Father will be very displeased and so will Mother. Brother did work very hard to get you and you don't want to anger him. We're late for the meeting."

"No! Let me go!" Namine shouted as she tried to get out of Yazoo's grip. However, Yazoo was quite strong. His grip on Namine was like a lock apparently. Yazoo walked through the corridor and around a couple of hallways. Soon he dragged Namine into the same white room where she was taken by Kadaj. Yazoo threw Namine onto the hard, cold ground and joined Kadaj and Loz in the corner of the room.

"You're quite the cheeky one," Ultimecia said as she took her seat. "I can't believe you were close in escaping. You're probably a reason why those three should be here in the first place."

"You little canary...don't try to fly away from this cage again," Kuja giggled as he took his seat. "You know that we will find you."

"Some impressive witch this is," Seymour said as he took his seat, "I can see such innocence in her eyes yet...perhaps there is a dormant fire in her."

"So...that's the White Witch of Legend..." a deep male voice spoke. Another silver haired man walked into the room. His long silver locks reached down all the way to his waist. His green eyes were similar to Kadaj and the others' but these showed no sign of mercy. His clothing was a black trench coat with red linings which was open on his chest. His black pants were held together black suspenders. On his shoulders were silver metal shoulder pads. His dark boots touched the white floor gently like he was treading water. He walked over to Namine to take a good look at her. "This child...is the witch?"

"Lord Sephiroth," Kuja said, "how nice of you to finally join us. I trust the conversation with Xemnas went well?"

"Xemnas will join us shortly," Sephiroth replied, "he's busy taking care of some pest that was caught outside of our worlds."

_Oh no...Rikku! _Namine thought. _They must have caught her!_

"So, Kuja, when will the time come?"

"Soon, Lord Sephiroth will be the time to harness her power," Kuja said, "when the moon becomes full and blue it will be time."

"So what do we do with her in the mean time?" Ultimecia asked.

"Why my dear Ultimecia, this is where you come in. Someone has to make sure she thinks we're right. With your manipulation powers...I'm sure you can make her our loyal servant."

"Heh, perhaps I can do that..."

Ultimecia rose up from her seat. She extended her arm out to Namine and lifted her from the ground. Dark aura surrounded her arm. Namine's fears rose up as she felt like this might be the end of her. However, something distracted Ultimecia. A figure smashed through the painted window. The figure was holding onto a rope in which it swung from side to side of the room. Following the figure were other silhouettes. Fire, water, rocks, and much more were thrown at the villains from above. The figure held onto the rope as it reached out to grab Namine.

Namine looked up to see locks of silver hair barely brush against her. A pair of soft green eyes looked at her with a gentle look. The young man wore a black shirt which was covered by a sleeves white jacket that had yellow linings. His light blue pants hid his black shoes. The young man extended his right arm which was covered in a white bandage. "Take my hand," he said to her softly. "Rikku sent us to rescue you."

Unsure of what to do, however not wanting to stay a moment longer at the castle, Namine took a hold of the man's hand. Suddenly, the silver haired man pulled her up to his body and tugged on the rope. On demand, the other figures which were by the broken window began to pull the rope up. Namine held tight to the young man. However, when she took a good look at him, she noticed something about him. _This...is Riku, _she thought. _He looks exactly like the way I drew him._ Namine blushed a bit when she noticed that Riku actually looked much more handsome in real life than he did on paper.

Both teens disappeared from the castle, but they were not safe yet. Namine took a chance to see the other people that helped them. Aside from Riku and Rikku, there was a young woman with long brown hair and dark red eyes. Her black jacket covered her white shirt which matched her black shorts and boots. Next to her was a young man with short blond hair. His costume consisted of a blue vest which was sleeveless. Underneath his vest was a white shirt. His gloves had cuffs on them which matched his vest. His blue pants covered most of his torso except for the part where his boots came into place. What was odd about this young man was the fact that he had a tail.

Riku suddenly whistled into the darkness. In a matter of moments large yellow birds appeared before the rebels. Rikku, the boy with the tail, and the woman with long hair mounted on the yellow birds. Riku took a hold of Namine and hoisted her up on his bird.

"Hold on tight," he said to her before he kicked the bird's side and rode off.

The group rode off into the forest where they ended up losing any of the emperor's men. Namine hold tightly onto Riku in hopes of not falling off the giant bird. She felt a bit relieved at last; however she didn't feel completely safe. She didn't know where she was entirely, she didn't know when she might be able to go home, and she didn't know why they wanted her so badly for. However, all that mattered right now is the fact that she was safe for now. She could only hope that Riku would be able to help her.

Meanwhile back in Namine's room. Reno and the others were stumped by the entire thing. Elena had rushed to the phone and called up the authorities in hopes that perhaps they might be able to find Namine. Kairi played around with her fingers for a bit. She looked at the floor in Namine's room and picked up a drawing that her sister did. In the drawing she noticed a young man with silver hair...standing next to a girl with blond hair.

_This is the end of the second chapter. I hope this one turned out to be okay. Til next time!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Here it is people. Chapter three has arrived. I hope this chapter is a good one too._

**If Only I Could**

**Chapter Three: Avalanche**

It must have been a solid good three hours before the giant birds had stopped running. Namine felt quite tired and was about to release her hold on Riku. Riku took noticed that his riding buddy was really tired. He shifted slightly as he wrapped his arm around Namine to prevent her from falling off his mounting animal. Once Namine regained balance, Riku mounted off his animal. He extended his arm to Namine; in which she took a hold of his arm and got off.

Namine slid off from the giant bird and planted her feet on the ground. However, she toppled over and landed on Riku's chest. Namine slowly got off from Riku's chest. Riku looked rather concerned at the blond girl, but she just looked away from him. Confused at this, but thinking it was nothing, Riku didn't say anything. Instead, he took a hold of Namine's hand and led her into a bar.

The inside of the bar was rather dirty. The lime green walls were now dirty from alcohol and blood. Signs, animal heads, and pictures hung on the wall trying to make the place look quaint. Round wooden tables and wooden chairs were placed around the bar. In the way back was the counter and behind the counter were the endless bottles of liquor. To the left of the counter were strange decorations.

"Why are we here?" Namine asked groggily.

"We're in our secret headquarters," Riku replied, "This is Seventh Heaven. The bar is run by one of our Avalanche members, Tifa."

"Avalanche?"

"We're a group of freedom fighters, you might say. We're here to liberate the kingdom of Hallow Bastion and save all of Avalon, which is the name of this world. The kingdom of Hallow Bastion has been taken over by the evil emperor Sephiroth and his cronies. Queen Larxene of Castle Oblivion was dethroned and is nowhere to be found. Our mission is to stop the Jenova Empire from spreading over to other parts of Avalon and return Queen Larxene on the throne of Castle Oblivion."

"What?"

"Listen," Riku said as he let out a sigh, "I'm not so sure where you come from, but everyone in Avalon knows about this."

"That's the thing...I'm not from here," Namine replied, "I came from another world...I think. I remember that I drew this place and I...you might think I'm crazy...but I drew you."

Riku stopped for a moment. He looked at Namine with an odd look. "You drew me? What?"

"Listen, I don't have the drawing with me right now, but I swear I drew you and Castle Oblivion."

Riku looked at Namine in a strange manner. He wasn't sure if he should believe her or not. However, from what he heard from Rikku, he had to think about this. If Namine was indeed the White Witch of Legend then she was a force to be reckoned with. _Though, if she is the White Witch of Legend,_ Riku thought, _why was she captured so easily by them? Shouldn't she be able to defend herself?_ "If you are indeed the witch, then you should be able to create anything," Riku stated. "Go ahead and make a believer out of me."

Namine shivered a bit. She couldn't decide whether or not she should show Riku her power. However, one look from his icy cold stare told the blond artist that he was serious. Namine walked over to one of the tables. She took out her blue color pencil and began to draw in the table. Namine first drew a circle then continued to make other lines to it.

Once she was finished, she looked at the tiny picture below. It was some sort of an animal which looked like some sort of a chubby cat with a cute red button nose and two charcoal black eyes. On top of the animal's head was a red ball which was some sort of a pom-pom. On its back were two black bat wings. Namine smiled as she tried to name the small creature. "I think I'll call you Mog," she said. "You're one of the Moogles."

"You drew a Moogle?" Riku asked.

Just then the table began to shake. Everyone who was watching the Namine drew jumped back as they saw a tiny white paw arise from the table. A fuzzy head complete with a red ball of fuzz came out from the table. Eventually the creature Namine drew came to life. The little animal looked around at its surroundings before it looked at Namine. Namine thought that the little Moogle was so cute.

"Kupo!" Mog squeaked as it inched over to Namine.

"You're so cute!" Namine squealed as she picked up the tiny Moogle into her arms.

"Oh my...so it is true," Riku replied.

"See? I told you!" Rikku said as she jumped up and down. "I may have not seen her in action, but I knew she was it. She's the witch."

"If she is the witch," the long haired brunette said, "that could only mean that the Jenova Empire will want her."

"Don't worry much about it, Tifa," the monkey tailed blond said, "As long as I, Zidane, will watch over you, nothing will happen to you. If we stick together, we'll be okay."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Tifa replied.

"Zidane's right though," Rikku said, "we're unstoppable as a team! And now will be even more unstoppable since we have Namine!"

"I suppose so," Tifa said, "now we can finally be able to overthrow them and get our homes back right, Riku?"

Riku didn't say much. He looked over at the Moogle and at Namine. "Let's go inside of the main room, I'm tired," Riku replied. "Tifa, open the door." Tifa nodded in Riku's direction. She walked behind the counter and squatted down. Placing a hand, Tifa tried to look for a switch. Once she found it, she activated it. The strange decorations began to part and revealed a doorway with stairs that lead down.

Riku walked down the stairs and disappeared into the darkness. Zidane and Rikku followed their leader. Tifa placed a hand on Namine's back and led her towards the steps. Namine took one look at the doorway and froze. She didn't like how dark, damp, and closed it was. However, Tifa was rather impatient and began to push Namine down. Just as soon as both women walked a couple of steps down the stairs. The door way was closed off.

"Don't worry about it," said the martial artist, "that's why I was pushing you. We only have a limited amount of time before it closes off. However, we do have an emergency button around here and at the end of the stairs."

Both girls walked down the stairs slowly and carefully. Once they reached the end of the stairs, Namine examined the room. It may have been underground, but it was rather lighted nicely. The entire area looked like some sort of underground city. Tiny homes surrounded what appeared to be a well. The same giant birds she saw earlier were walking around freely.

On the walls of the city were murals and drawings of what appeared to be some sort of a story. As Namine looked at the story, she stopped as she stared directly into one figure that looked very familiar. It was a drawing of a young man wearing black clothing and armor. What really caught Namine's attention were the vibrant red hair the drawing had and the black triangle tattoos. _It looks just like..._she thought. _Could he...be from this world to? _

"Namine, come over here," Riku shouted as he stood by the well.

"Coming!" Namine shouted back. "Let's go, Mog!" Namine held Mog tightly as she ran towards Riku.

"Listen, as long as you're here, I might as well show you the town. This place is called Traverse Town. It is a hidden town which only refugees and rebels from Hallow Bastion preside. No one really knows that this place exist and hopefully it will stay that way. This place was founded by yours truly and my friends. Now follow me."

Riku walked over to a small home which had a couple of broken windows. Dead flowers were aligned next to each other on the walkway. Namine followed Riku as he walked to the front door; which was only a cloth. He opened it and walked inside. He beckoned the blond to follow him; which she blindly did. The inside of the tiny home was quite plain and depressing. There wasn't much to it, except for some lances and hats. Sitting at the corner on a lone wooden chair, was what appeared to be a rat woman. Her snowy white hair covered part of her face. Her light red coat covered most of her body, excluding her skinny legs. In her hands was a book.

"Riku? What brings you here?" The rat woman asked.

"I came to see how you are doing, Freya," Riku replied. "We're all a little worried after your last run in with Loz."

"That galoot has nothing on me. I can beat him easily with my lance...just that I was caught off guard by Kadaj." Freya looked over at Riku's accomplice. "Who's that girl?"

"Oh, this is Namine," Riku said as he pointed at the blond, "Supposedly she might be the White Witch of Legend."

"That girl?" Freya took a good look at Namine. "I can't say that she is or isn't. Has she proved it?"

"You see the white puff ball in her hands? That's what she created not too long ago."

"I see...so are they aware about her presence?"

"Yeah...we just rescued her from the emperor himself."

"They'll be back for her," Freya replied. "I better recuperate faster. You're going to need my lance to help you."

"Don't hurt yourself, Freya. Take your time." Riku looked over at Namine. "Oh, I forgot to introduce you. Namine, this is Freya Crescent. She's one of the best Dragoon knights in all of Avalon. She used to work for Queen Larxene when she was in power."

"The keyword should be was," Freya replied, "Now...I'm just washed up. The least I can do is protect you."

"I appreciate it. Anyway, I'll be showing Namine the other places. You just rest up." Riku then left the small home.

"Bye," Namine said as she walked out.

Riku and Namine walked through the small town. Both teens arrived at another small home. This one was a dark blue colored home with a tiny yellow bird pecking at the ground. Riku and Namine entered the home. This little home was a bit cozier than Freya's, but it wasn't heavily decorated. There was a shelf full of books; most of them spell books. There was a small bed with dirty sheets. Sitting on a wooden chair, next to a broken table was a small child. His dark blue coat covered his body that all you could see were his two yellow eyes. His yellow hat limped over to his back.

"Hi Riku!" The little boy said.

"Hey there, Vivi," Riku replied. "I'm just showing Namine around town. She's the White Witch of Legends."

"Wow...really?" Vivi got up from his chair and walked over to Namine. "Can she do magic?"

"Yeah...in a way. Look at the tiny creature she has. She made that."

"It's cute! Hey...think you can show me how to do one?"

"Um..." Namine looked at how eager Vivi wanted to learn how to create fuzzy creatures. "If I get good at it, I can teach you."

"Really?! Yay! I would like to make a playmate for Choco."

"Who's Choco?"

"Choco's my Chocobo," Vivi said as he pointed to his window. "See? He's outside."

"Oh...so those birds are called Chocobos..."

"You never saw a Chocobo before?"

"I never even heard of one," Namine replied. "My home doesn't have Chocobos."

"Wow...so there aren't Chocobos from where you're from. Where are you from?"

"I'm...from where...far away...I think."

"Anyway," Riku said as he tried not to be rude, "Namine this is Vivi. He's one of the best mages we have. He's from the outskirts of Hallow Bastion, but both him and his grandfather; Quane would come to town often."

"Oh...where is your grandpa, Vivi?" Namine asked.

Vivi looked down at the floor when he heard that question. "Grandpa...passed away while we were trying to escape from the Jenova Empire."

"I'm so sorry..." Namine frowned as she knew she hit a sore spot. Vivi looked back at Namine and gave off a small gesture that he was okay. Riku placed a hand on her shoulder and led her out from Vivi's home. Riku said good bye to Vivi, before he left the tiny mage by himself. Both teens continued to walk down the path. "Riku...I'm sorry I unsettled Vivi," Namine cried. "I feel so bad for him..."

"You didn't know," Riku replied. "Don't worry much about Vivi."

"Yeah...but..."

"Listen, don't worry about it."

Zidane shouted as he jumped off from the roof of his house.

"Namine, you may not know his name, but this is..."

"Zidane Tribal," Zidane replied as he took a hold of Namine's hand. "I'm the protector of cute damsels, such as you. If you ever need a shoulder to cry on or someone to hug you just look me up."

"Um..." Namine spoke, "Thanks...I guess."

"Anyway, are you almost done with the tour? Lulu is about to finish cooking."

"Yeah...I need to show her where she'll be staying," Riku said. "I think she might stay over at Lulu's."

Riku and Zidane exchanged good byes before Zidane cuddled Namine's hand once more. Riku just rolled his eyes as he took Namine to a dark looking hut. As they approached the hut, Namine's nose was conquered by a delicious aroma. She clutched her stomach as it let out a growl. Riku looked at Namine with a cocked eyebrow. Namine shyly smiled as she let out a blush of embarrassment.

"You hungry?" he asked.

"Yeah..." Namine replied.

"Good. Lulu should be done making the dinner. You're gonna love her cooking. She's the best cook I've know ever since I was little."

Riku and Namine entered the small hut. The inside of the hut was a bit more decorated than Vivi's home. Inside were exotic tapestries. To the far left of the small house was a small bed. To the right of home was a round table with chairs. In the middle of the table was a vase with a lone flower. In the middle of the room was a small bonfire which was cooking a lovely stew of some sort.

Stirring the stew was a pale woman with long braided black hair. Her lips were touched by purple lipstick. She wore round purple earrings and necklace. Her bosoms showed through her black dress. What was strange about the black dress was the fact that the bottom was held together with so many belts. Namine wasn't sure if the belts were even necessary for her dress. The woman looked up at Riku and smiled sweetly.

"Hello Riku," she spoke in a soft voice, "how are you today?"

"I'm fine, Lulu," Riku replied as he sat down next to Lulu.

"Rough day today?"

"A bit. I brought over a new member to Avalanche. Her name is Namine. She's the White Witch of Legend...or so we believe."

"White...witch?" Lulu got up from her seat and walked over to the blond artist. She placed her hands on Namine's cheeks and examined her face a bit more. "She doesn't have the Mako eyes...so she can't be one of them. So...this is the witch...what makes you so sure that this is her?"

"Well, the white animal she's holding in her hand was what she created not too long ago."

"I see..." Lulu said as she released her hold on Namine. "That doesn't necessarily mean that she's the White Witch. After all...that story is a children's story."

"But Lulu..." Riku replied.

"You can believe whatever you want, Master Riku, but I, for once will have to see it to believe it. If she is truly the White Witch of Legend then she should have no problems getting us out of this rut. In the legend, it started that she could summon the great dragon, Bahamut from the sky."

"But...I don't know how to draw dragons..." Namine replied.

"Draw...?"

"She gets her powers from drawing," Riku stated.

"I don't remember drawing being part of the witch's powers. Well, it doesn't matter. She can stay here with us. That I don't have a problem with. However, for me to believe that this is the witch...it will take me a while. Who found her again?"

"Rikku did."

"Prince Riku, will you be a dear and call everyone to my hut. Dinner is ready. Oh, and will you tell Zidane that it's his turn to feed Beatrix. She is, after all, mortally wounded right now and needs to recover. Make sure to give food to Yuna as well. She has been working so hard to heal Beatrix' mortal wounds."

"Okay...Nana." Riku replied as he left the hut.

"Nana?" Namine asked as she looked at Lulu.

"Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself to you," Lulu said as she got a bowl and filled it with stew. "My name is Lulu. I am or at least was a hired servant at the castle. I was Riku's nanny for years."

"So...it is true. Riku really is a prince."

"He is...and he is the leader of Avalanche, the rebellion group you see before you. The woman I was talking about is Beatrix. She used to be the general of the same castle I worked in. In her attempt to save Queen Larxene, Beatrix was mortally wounded by that demon of a man. She was fighting Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz all by herself and was going to destroy them if it weren't for that man...Sephiroth. He was the one that wounded her deeply that Freya had to come in and save her. If you ever have a chance, you should introduce yourself to her. She always welcomes visitors. Our healer is a young woman named Yuna. She is my niece and was once the High Summoner of Castle Oblivion." Lulu passed the bowl over to Namine.

"Thank you," Namine replied.

"So tell me...where are you from?"

"If I told you...I'm sure you wouldn't believe me. You see...I come from a world...which is different from yours. There is no magic or anything of that sort. How I was transported her is beyond me. All I remember is that these colored pencils are magical in a way. My teacher gave them to me. He said I would make better use of them than him. Strange thing is, when I was walking inside of this town's walls, I saw a mural that looks exactly like him because of the red hair."

"Red hair?" Lulu's soft eyes opened up a bit.

"Yeah. His name was Mr. Axel...um...he never told us his last name. He just wanted us to call him Axel."

"Did...this man...have tattoos under his eyes?"

"Yes! Why do you ask?"

"No...it's nothing."

"Lulu! I brought over everyone!" Riku shouted as he walked inside of the hut.

In a matter of moments the entire gang was there, including Freya and a couple of more people. Lulu began to serve everyone a bowl of her stew. Half of the people that arrived for the dinner walked out of the hut and eat outside on the ground while the other half sat on the floor of the tiny hut or on a chair if they could get one. They group had to shout out their conversations so that the people outside could hear it.

However, the main topic of their conversations was Namine. They didn't mind her staying; it was more on the fact that she could be the witch of legend. By this time, Namine was sick of hearing them call her the White Witch of Legend. She didn't even know what was so important about it nor did she know why they insisted on calling her witch than her real name. Having enough of that, Namine had to speak out her mind to the group.

"Um, excuse me," Namine said, "I want to know something about this White Witch of Legend. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm getting tired of everyone calling me that than my real name."

"You brought her here and called her the White Witch of Legend and yet no one had the decency to tell her the legend?" Lulu asked everyone. "Fine, I'll tell you the legend. It was said that a long time ago, when Avalon was only one ruling nation, there was a strong king. That king ruled all of the land with a fair and just hand. Everyone in the land loved him so much and prayed for his good health.

"However, his rule advisor, a dark wizard grew jealous of the king always being loved. Using his dark magic he sealed the king away into a dark realm and ruled over Avalon. However, one day, someone stepped up to challenge the wizard. A young witch who wore all white approached the wizard and fought against him. Using her powers, the witch locked the wizard in dark realm and rescued the king. The king wanted to knight the young woman, but she told him that she had to go off to a distant land, but she claimed that when the Dark Wizard broke free from his prison, she will come back once again.

"Till this day, the people of Avalon await for the White Witch of Legend to come back and save us from the Jenova Empire and from the dark powers of the Evil Wizard, Xemnas. Some people even believe that he could be the Dark Wizard himself. I, on the other hand, don't believe it. What we need is someone to lead us. Riku has been doing a good job and if he keeps this up, he will one day return his mother to the throne than when it's his time, ascend to the throne as king."

"Aww...Lulu," Riku said as he placed a hand behind his head.

"It is true. Once we defeat Emperor Sephiroth and his circle of minions, your family will be back on the throne."

"That's true," Tifa said as she placed a hand on Riku's back. "We'll do all we can to return your family back to the throne. That way you can become king. Let's give off three cheers for Prince Riku; our soon to be king! All hail Prince Riku!"

"All hail Prince Riku!" shouted the group.

"Knock it off you guys," Riku replied as he blushed deeply. "This is embarrassing. Oh by the way, Lulu. Can Namine stay here with you? I'm not so sure if she can stay anywhere else."

"Of course she can," Lulu said. "We just need to find something to make a cot for her to sleep on. We can't have her on the floor."

"Well, I'm off to bed early," Riku spoke as he stretched out a bit. "Avalanche, you better sleep early too. We have a long day tomorrow. We have to do several things like collect food. I believe we might be short on supplies so we have to make food runs. Tomorrow I'll decide on how makes the runs tomorrow. We also have the issues about taking out security devices. Tomorrow I'll decide who does that too. Alright so good night to all of you."

Everyone had said their good nights to Riku before the silver haired prince left the room and walked down the path to his old home. Eventually everyone had left to their own homes to turn in for the night. Zidane was busy bring food to Yuna and Beatrix in the infirmary hut. Meanwhile, Lulu found some spare blankets and made a tiny bed for Namine to sleep on. Namine thanked Lulu and slept on the blankets.

As the blond artist laid on the blankets, her mind began to wonder. Many things ran through her head. She thought about her family and her life which she thought at that point she would probably never see them again. A rogue tear rolled down her cheek as she thought of actually living in this world and never returning home. She rolled over to her side and tried to imagine her home. She imagined her soft, vivid room with all her artwork. She imagined her sister, Kairi, coming in and waking her up on weekends to go swimming at the beach with Sora, Roxas, and the rest. Slowly, Namine closed her sapphire colored eyes and fell asleep.

"She escaped?" Sephiroth growled as he looked at his circle of minions. "I thought all of you can handle this situation."

"I didn't see you do anything," Kuja muttered under his breath.

"I heard that, mage."

"So...the White Witch of Legend has been taken away? How sad." A dark voice spoke. A dark aura arose from the ground. As it parted, a young man with pink colored hair stood before them. Rose petals danced in the air as he walked over to Emperor Sephiroth. His dark coat swung to and fro with a delicate balance. He stuck out his hand and a scythe appeared from the dark aura that emitted from his gloved hands. He batted his blue eyes at the emperor. "My superior will not be happy about the entire thing."

"That I know, Marluxia," Sephiroth replied. "The question is why are you here instead of doing what I ordered you to do?"

"I came here to see the White Witch of Legend," Marluxia cooed. "Superior Xemnas ordered me to take the White Witch, but apparently I can't do that right now. Oh, by the way, Kuja, Vexen would like to see you in his lab. Its concerning another crack idea you two were making."

"I see...then I suppose I should go there now since there is no need for me here," Kuja said as he walked out of the room. "If Emperor Sephiroth wishes anything from me, he should just ring for me. Ta, ta!"

"Sometimes I wonder..." Sephiroth said as he eyed Kuja leave the room. "Marluxia, I'm giving you orders for you to follow. I want you and the other Neophytes to go find the White Witch and bring her back. Use any means necessary. However...don't kill Riku. You can kill whoever you want, just not Riku."

"Yes, milord," Marluxia replied as he took a bow. Dark aura surrounded the pink haired man and soon he disappeared. Marluxia ended up in a dark room where other hooded men stood waiting. One was a young man with a blond mullet and rather confused blue eyes. Marluxia smirked as he walked over to the young man. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "You...were ordered to find the White Witch and bring her back," he said to the young man.

"You mean the witch is gone?" he asked.

"She was taken away by Avalanche. Number Nine, Demyx, you need to go and find her and bring her to me. Don't hand her over to anyone else. Just me."

"Y-yeah, whatever you say, Marluxia." Demyx replied as he swallowed the lump that was caught in his throat. He then disappeared within the black aura that surrounded him and left. Once he left, Marluxia smirked.

_Yay! Chapter three is done! _


	4. Chapter 4

_Yayness! Here comes another chapter!_

**If Only I Could**

**Chapter Four: Demyx and Namine**

Namine stirred in small bed. She was awakened by the smell of something delicious cooking. She sat up to see Lulu in the center of her hut, cooking something in her pot. Lulu greeted Namine and asked her to sit down next to her while she finished cooking. Namine smiled and sat down next to Lulu. She looked over at what the older woman was cooking. The aroma of the porridge was so tempting to the blond artist.

"Breakfast is almost done," Lulu said as she put in a bit of cinnamon. "Can you do me a favor and call in everyone?"

"Alright!" Namine replied as she excused herself from Lulu's hut and walked down the path.

Namine informed Zidane, Vivi, Freya, Tifa, and the rest that breakfast was about finished. However, there was one person she couldn't find: Riku. Searching high and low, Namine began to search the part of town she hadn't been in before. She approached a small white home with a red cross on it. She assumed it was the infirmary, but she did wonder if Riku was in there checking on Beatrix and Yuna.

Namine walked inside of the infirmary. The inside of it was white washed and decorated with tiny pictures and plants. The infirmary reminded her somewhat of her room. As she walked deeper into the infirmary, she started to hear soft moans of pain echo through the room. Namine managed to find the beds and on one of the beds was a young woman with long, curly, chestnut colored hair. Part of her face was covered in a bandage. Her right arm was bandaged as well. The woman managed to open her left eye and looked over at Namine.

"You..." she spoke softly, "Who are you?"

"I...I'm Namine," Namine replied, "I'm new here."

"Are you a new recruit to Avalanche? Do you fight or are you just a refugee?"

"I suppose I'm a refugee. I don't know how to use weapons or anything."

"I see. What brings you here? You aren't hurt...are you?"

"No...I'm looking for Riku and I thought he might have come in to visit you and Yuna. That is if you are Beatrix, as I assumed."

"You assumed correctly, little girl. I am Beatrix, General of Hallow Bastion. I once commanded the entire army before it was taken down by the Jenova Empire. Now all you see is a washed up soldier before you."

"Don't say such things," Namine spoke. "I'm sure you're still a great soldier! I know once you heal you will be able to fight!"

"Such kind words sadly isn't enough to heal me completely," Beatrix stated flatly, "however, that doesn't mean I'm not grateful for them." The wounded general smiled at Namine which in return smiled back. Just then another young woman walked in. Her short brown hair covered parts of her pale face but not enough to cover her strange blue and green eyes. The woman fixed her white blouse and blue skirt. She smiled at the girls.

"Hello," she said, "My name is Yuna. I'm the healer of this town. Who are you? And are you hurt?"

"My name is Namine and no, I'm not hurt," Namine spoke.

"Ah, I see. So you came to visit Beatrix?"

"I originally came because I thought Riku might be here. Lulu wanted me to give him a message that breakfast is ready."

"Wonderful!" Yuna replied. "I hope someone will bring us some breakfast too. By the way, Beatrix, how are you feeling today?"

"I feel a bit better, actually," Beatrix replied as she tried to smile at Yuna. "I think the healing is doing wonders."

"Oh! I'm so happy. You'll be on your feet in no time!" Yuna smiled warmly. "Namine, if you want to find Riku, he's probably in his home. His home is actually a little down this path. He's rather secluded from the rest of us, and I'm sure he's still asleep."

"Okay, I'll head over there right now." Namine replied as she said her good bye and left the infirmary.

Namine walked down the path and ended up in a dark looking home. Namine felt a small chill rise up her spine. However, she shook her head and walked inside of the house. The insides of the house seemed almost as bare as Freya's home, except for a small table at the end of the living room. On the table was a star shaped figure. Namine placed a hand on the tiny star figure. Before she could take a closer look at it, Riku gripped her wrist tightly.

"Riku!" Namine let out.

"What are you doing here?" Riku asked as he eyed Namine suspiciously.

"Oh! I came here to get you for breakfast."

"Then...why are you holding that charm in your hand?"

Namine replied as she moved her hand a bit. "Well...it looked cute and I wanted to take a closer look at it."

"You're not allowed to touch this!" Riku spat as he took the charm out of Namine's hand. "I'm sorry, but of all the things, I can't allow you to touch this charm."

"Um...any reason why?"

"Because I said so, that's all you need to know. Now come on, let's go eat." Riku managed to push Namine out of the tiny house and down the road. Namine tried not to hesitate as much as she wanted to, but did as Riku told her. She thought it was probably best to listen to him since he did save her. Curious about the entire war, Namine asked Riku something.

"Riku, I was wondering about something," Namine said.

"The charm isn't from my mother and it wasn't my baby toy either if that's what you're going to ask," Riku retorted right away.

"Um...actually that's not what I wanted to ask."

"Oh...then what is it?"

"I wanted to know more about this war and such. What happened to your mother?"

"That...I don't know. For all we know, she could be dead. However, I feel that she is still alive and needs to be saved. The entire war started because the Jenova Empire got greedy and wanted to take control of all this land. That's all there is to it?"

"Really? I thought it could have been more than that...or at least that's what I would have developed."

"Hey, hey! We don't need any more problems like that happening anymore. You need to help us stop this empire and with your magic we'll be able to."

"By the way Riku...I didn't know your little charm was your baby toy."

"Ugh!" Riku let out as his eyes squinted. "Listen, don't tell that anyone!"

"Okay...your secret is safe with me. I promise I won't say a single word."

"Good."

"But though," Namine added in, "I think it's cute."

Riku and Namine reached Lulu's hut and had breakfast. Pretty much the entire day went by. Namine had spent most of the time either playing with Mog or visiting the other members of Avalanche. She tried her best to teach Vivi how to use her magic, which failed somewhat miserably. When Namine hung out with Tifa, the martial artist tried to teach the young artist some of her moves, sadly that also ended up miserably. Once evening came, Riku called up all the members of Avalanche for a meeting. Namine approached the group to catch a bit of the conversation.

"I had Zidane scout out the southern border from here," Riku said, "it appears a new base has been built there. If we go now we will be able to take them by surprise and destroy the base. Having one close to our hideout is dangerous. Pretty soon someone will discover this place and then what? All our work will be for naught. Rikku, you are in charge of getting food and take Vivi with you."

"Wh-what?!" Rikku let out. "You want me...to get the food?"

"Yes. We are running out of supplies and we need someone who's sneaky. Usually we have Zidane do the job, but since we'll need him to infiltrate the base, that leaves only one more thief."

"Oh...poopie! This really sucks!"

"Okay, this is the plan which we have in mind; Zidane will infiltrate the base while we have Freya and Tifa knock out the guards of the base. I will then try to find the heart of the base and blow it up. All while this is happening Rikku and Vivi will be getting the food supplies. I heard a food carrier will be approaching the walls of Hallow Bastion, meaning you have to intercept it before it reaches the castle. Okay? Let's go!"

"Wait!" Namine spoke. "What will I do?"

"Namine you stay here with the others," Riku said. "It's too dangerous for you to do anything."

"But...I would like to help. You all been so kind to me and it's the least I can do."

"There isn't anything you can do except create things," Riku stated flatly. "We don't need that right now."

"Actually...it may come in handy if we need..." Zidane murmured.

"No! We're fine the way we are. Namine...if you go out on the surface, don't wonder far. They might see you." Without another word, Riku left the small huddle. Soon, all the other Avalanche members headed off in their own way. Namine felt quite upset about being left behind. _I want to help too, _she thought as she began to scribble on the sidewalk. _I'm not as helpless as they all think I am. _

As Namine continued to scribble, she wasn't taking in awareness of what she was drawing. All she wanted was to draw fire and a beast. She drew a strange red lion creature with a tattoo with the number thirteen on its left arm. Once she was done she took a good look at the drawing.

"Its...red...thirteen?" Namine squeaked. Just then the picture came to life. The red, fiery lion let out a roar before it turned its attention to Namine. Namine felt quite scared. She didn't know what to do in this situation and she didn't want to be eaten by the beast. The blond quivered in fear as the beast approached her.

"Excuse me," the beast spoke, "I was wondering if you could lead me to some food. I am quite famished."

"Huh?" Namine said, "You mean you're not going to eat me?"

I really don't like to attack humans or anything of that sort. By the way...is Red XIII my name? That's the first thing I heard."

"I...um...guess. But how about that's your code name."

"Code name? Am I some sort of special agent?"

"Yeah! You're part of Avalanche, like me! You're real name is Nanaki!"

"Nanaki...Red XIII...I like the sound of that!" Red XIII chirped as he did a little spin and looked back at Namine. "So...are you...my mom?"

"Um...sorta..."

"Alright! From now on, you're my mom! So...what are we gonna do mom?"

"Actually...I'm kinda curious about the surface. I'm going to the surface for a bit. You should wait here."

"But...I want to go too."

Namine took one good look at Red XIII's puppy eyes and couldn't say no to him. She allowed the fiery lion to follow her to the surface. Namine flipped the switch to open the door which locked away Traverse Town and walked into Tifa's bar. Tifa wasn't there yet, so Namine rushed as fast as she could to the outside. Once she was outside, the blond artist looked at her surroundings. She wasn't too sure on where to go from there, but one thing was for sure was that the moon was shining brightly.

Red XIII scurried around the area before he disappeared behind a bush. Namine was about to follow the red lion, when suddenly a cold wild brushed against her bare skin. A dark aura began to form behind Namine. The girl fell down as she tripped on a rogue branch that laid on the ground. From the dark aura came out a young blond man who's hair was up in a mullet. His black coat brushed against him softly. He searched the area before his eyes landed on Namine's soft frame.

"Are you the one they call the White Witch of Legend?" the man asked.

"Y-yeah...I'm Namine...why do you ask?" Namine asked.

"Well then, ahem, White Witch of Legend, I was sent here to take you to my superior! I'm known as the Melodious Nocturne, but you can call me Demyx. Now...if you don't mind, I really don't want to hurt you so why don't you just come to me quietly and without hesitation?"

"No! I won't ever go with you!"

"Oh...listen, I'm not really interested to hurt anyone and such...I'm not the right guy for this job...nor am I the right guy to even be here doing this...Marluxia should have been doing this...anyway, will you please come with me? Look, I even said please!"

"No thank you!" Namine barked back.

"Aww..." Demyx turned his back on Namine. "I knew I wasn't right for this job. Marluxia sent the wrong guy. I'm not good with younger people."

"What are you waiting for?" Namine asked. "I thought you were gonna fight me."

"Whoa, whoa! First off...how am I suppose to fight someone like you? You don't have a weapon."

Namine took out her small colored pencil and looked for something to draw on. When she noticed that she was far away from anything she could draw on, Namine began to panic. Demyx walked over to the blond artist and took away her colored pencils. Namine let out a shriek as she jumped up and down. "Give that back!" she shouted. "That's mine; it was a gift from my teacher!"

"What's so special about this thing anyway?" Demyx asked as he looked at it. "Listen, we'll do a trade. I'll give it back to you if you promise to come with me."

"I said no already!"

"Aww...come on! I just want to go home before Marluxia nags at me and the Superior gets upset with me."

"I'm sorry...but I'm not coming!"

"Then...you leave me no choice...I really didn't want to do this."

Demyx took a hold of Namine's hand and began to drag the girl off. He opened a portal and tried to drag Namine away, but she resisted as much she could. Namine shouted out for Red XIII, leaving Demyx confused. Suddenly a loud roar turned his attention from Namine to the red blur that came at up. Red XIII jumped on Demyx and tried to maul the youth. Demyx shouted as he pushed Red XIII off. He got off from the ground and stood his ground.

"What...in the world is that?" Demyx shouted as he looked at Red XIII.

"You were about to hurt Mom," Red XIII snarled. "No one hurts her!"

"Oh man..." Demyx whined as he placed a hand on his forehead, "I knew that they were sending the wrong guy."

"Be prepared to defend yourself!"

"Alright! Don't say I didn't warn you...I hope..." Demyx lifted a hand above his head. Water came out from the ground and flew towards Demyx' open palm. The water formed into a ball of water until it transformed into a giant, blue sitar. Demyx twirled it before he began to play on the sitar. In a matter of moments water figures appeared.

Demyx shouted as he continued to play his sitar.

Meanwhile, Kairi was very worried. It had already been an entire day and no signs of Namine. Elena and Reno had called the police and began a search party. However, Kairi was not to miss school at all. She walked in silence and failed to notice Sora trailing behind her, trying to catch up to her. In her classes, Kairi seemed to be a zombie. She didn't listen to a single word that Professor Squall had said or even enjoyed Professor Axel's lectures, which a lot of people did.

Axel noticed how quiet Kairi was and decided to keep her after class. Once everyone had gone, Axel closed the door and paced back and forth in front of her. His eyes were lost in thought, as if he was trying to find the right words to say to Kairi.

"Kairi," Axel said, "I don't know exactly where to begin, and so I'm going to be as informer as I usually am. What happened to you today? You seemed so conked out as if you were a zombie or something."

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Axel," Kairi replied. "Normally I'm not like this and I'm a good student, but...there was an accident that happened with my sister."

"Oh Namine? I was wondering about why she didn't show up to class today."

"My sister...has run away from home."

"Ran away?" Axel questioned as he cocked an eyebrow.

"Or so we believe she's done," Kairi sniffed. "She was having a horrible day so she ran up to her room. Suddenly, she just disappears and she doesn't take anything with her...not even her sketchpad. All that was gone seemed to be a couple of colored pencils."

"I see..." Axel replied as he placed a hand on his chin. "Kairi...I was wondering if I could go over to pay my respects to your house?"

"Oh...of course. When will you want to?"

"How about after school, if you don't mind."

"After school?"

"Then it's settled! I'll go over to your house after school then. You can go now to your next class before you're late!"

Without another word, Axel nudged Kairi out from the door and closed it behind her. Kairi frowned a bit before she left to her other class. Pretty much the entire day had been difficult for the red head. All she could think about was her sister and she hoped she would be alright. She was so depressed that not even Sora's goofy affection would cheer her up. Once school was over, Kairi waited at the front courtyard for Axel.

Fifteen minutes later, Axel appeared and both Kairi and he headed towards her home. Both had remained quite silent as Kairi was thinking of her sister and Axel was thinking about something else. As soon as they both arrived Elena and Reno greeted them. Axel properly introduced himself before he was taken to the living room. He sat down and waited for Elena and Reno to talk to him. After they said their part of the story, Axel looked over at the direction of Namine's room.

"Excuse me," Axel said, "may I take a look in her room."

"Sure, go ahead," Reno said.

"Oh, Mr. Axel," Elena said, "please hurry. I am about to serve dinner and I would like to invite you over to eat."

"Alright, I'll hurry up then," Axel replied as he got up from the couch and walked up the stairs. The red head teacher examined the tiny room. The place was covered with so many drawings which he thought were kind of cute. He looked at the floor and found a picture of a castle. It was the picture of Riku. Axel stared hard at it before his facial expressions changed. "So...you're there now..."

"Mr. Axel?" Kairi asked. "Mom wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready."

"Oh?! That sounds good," Axel replied as he placed the drawing inside of his shirt. Just before he left the room. Axel took a green colored pencil from the ground and placed it close to the drawing. Axel enjoyed his stay at Kairi's home. Sora had come over for dinner as well. The entire family tried to keep their spirits up but it was rather difficult once the subject of Namine came up again. The doorbell rang to break the awkward silence that came. Kairi headed towards the door.

"Oh, Roxas!" Kairi said as she saw the blond figure.

"Hey Kairi," Roxas replied. "I'm here for Sora."

"Oh, then come in. He's about to finish dinner."

"Okay," Roxas replied as he walked inside of Kairi's house. Roxas walked towards the dining room and crossed his arms as he stood behind Sora. "So, this is where you were."

"Huh?" Sora looked behind him. "Oh...Roxas! I didn't know you were there!"

"Mom and Dad want you home."

"Okay, I'm almost done eating."

Axel took a good look at Roxas. He wasn't too sure if it was the lighting or whatnot, but he couldn't believe his eyes. _He looks just like..._he thought as he kept his emerald eyes on the boy. _I wonder if he really is..._Roxas took notice of Axel's strange look on his face.

"Um...is there something wrong?" Roxas asked.

"Oh...no," Axel replied as he shook his head. "I was just thinking of something...but never mind that. What did you say your name was?"

"Roxas. I'm Sora's brother."

"Biological brother?"

"Yeah...I suppose."

"I see...then you're not...never mind. Its rather late and I need to grade papers," Axel rose from his seat. "Elena, Reno, thank you for the food and such. Kairi, don't lose hope. We'll find your sister. Sora, make sure to study for the quiz I'm having tomorrow...and Roxas...take care of yourself." Axel excused himself from the table then walked out the door. As he closed the door, his mind went into a thoughtful state. _That boy..._he thought. _I'm sure he's..._

"Vexen," a young man with short lavender hair spoke, "you've been working on that for the longest time now. How long is your researching going to go on?"

"Patience Zexion," the elder blond haired man named Vexen said, "this research is very delicate. Anything could trigger her and she won't listen to a word I would say. After all, my greatest invention is more than just a clone machine that created Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj."

"That I'm aware of, but this new experiment looks done."

"That's where you're wrong, Zexion. This experiment isn't done."

"So when will it be done?" Kuja spoke as he walked behind Vexen.

"Kuja!" Vexen let out. "I didn't see you there. Well, the experiment has been going well. I'm almost done with making the circlet and soon it will be ready to be tested on our lovely subject."

"Ah yes...the little mage. She sure does look like a keeper. But I want you to hurry up now. Those flea ridden fools have our white witch and we don't know what they could be using her for now. She has a great power which could be able to destroy this empire."

"I know that the dangers are so great, but you can't rush perfection."

"You can't rush an old coot, that's for sure. You're almost are obsolete."

"I swear, Zexion," Vexen said through gritted teeth, "I can't get any respect here. What happened to youths respecting their elders?"

"What happened to shutting up and finishing your work," Kuja scowled. "How is the subject?"

"You mean that girl? She's still inside of that tube in a dormant state. Don't let her out right now until the circlet is finished."

Kuja didn't reply. All he did was walk over to the lone tube. He placed a tender hand on the glass as he viewed the young woman inside of the tube. Kuja's soft amethyst eyes gleamed with delight as he kept his eyes on the young woman. _Soon, you'll be ready, my little canary, _he thought as he smirked at the green haired woman. The wavy green locks floated along with the water that was inside of the tube. Her red dress touched her body lightly. On her mouth was her only source of oxygen.

"Very soon," Kuja murmured under his breath, "you'll be released from your cage and out into the world for you to flap your wings. Fly high into the sky, my darling canary and find those brats. Bring me back my darling white dove. I want her back...I need her back."

Vexen and Zexion tried to ignore Kuja in that state. They knew one thing the man was obsessed with and that was old literature. Vexen continued to work on the circlet. Once he was done with a few modifications, he looked at the instrument. It was a simple looking circle with a red triangle that goes on the forehead. Even though it was plain, the circlet was silver.

"I think it might be done," Vexen said as he showed the circlet to Zexion.

"What does this thing do again?" Zexion asked.

"Why you see, my dear Zexion, the circlet was made for one sole purpose. It was hard to conjure up this amazing jewelry since a lot of mages don't seem to want to volunteer. This is why the girl became important and is still important. Using such vigor experiments, I finally found out the perfect way to stop problems like her. This circlet's job is take control of one's mind. This usually works on magic users, but it might work on others. However, there are some modifications I can do to make it do a second trick which will become very useful later on."

"I see..." Zexion replied.

"Just between you and me," Vexen whispered, "I was inspired to do this...just to spite Kuja and those other filthy mages."

"Heh...quite cold, even for you."

"What are you two talking about?" Kuja asked as he moved a few rogue hairs away from his face.

"Oh that I'm done with the circlet and is ready for a test drive. Care to give it a try?"

"Right...let out...the girl," Kuja said as he smirked crazily.

_Yay! Done with chapter four! I hope it turned out okay._


	5. Chapter 5

_Hooray! I updated another chapter! Thanks to all the reviewers for reviewing this fic and such. I really appreciated it a lot._

**If Only I Could**

**Chapter Five: Lost Hope**

Namine let out a shriek as the water clones began to encircle and attack both her and Red XIII. Demyx continued to play on his sitar while he let out a nasal laugh. Red XIII let out a howl as he jumped over to the water clones and began to maul and destroy them. Namine was knocked down by one of the clones. She fell on the ground and looked on at the clones. One was about to hit her again when Red XIII jumped up at the clone and took a hold of its limb. The red lion growl and mauled at the clone before he began to slam it against the other clones.

Once the clones were gone, Red XIII turned to face Demyx. He ran over to the blond sitar player. His claws were sharp and his teeth were bared as he lunged into the air. Demyx quivered as he summoned water to protect him. The sudden hydro managed to send Red XIII up in the air. The red lion let out a yelp as he flipped into the air. He twisted his body as he tried to land on the ground; however Demyx continued to summon water which kept Red XIII in the air.

"Come on, dance for me!" Demyx shouted as he continued to use his water. "Keep up with the tempo!"

"Rawr!" Red XIII let out as he tried to avoid the water. "Get me down from here!"

"Aww...is the poor kitty afraid of water and heights?" Demyx let out as he giggled his dorky laugh.

"Leave him alone!" Namine shouted as she ran up to Demyx and kicked him in the shins.

"Ow!" Demyx whined as he jumped up and down as he took a hold of his shin. While he was mending his shin, the sitar player lost his concentration of his control on the water. Red XIII landed on the ground gracefully before he turned his attention to Demyx. He let out a snarl as he jumped in the air and knocked the assailant on the ground. Red XIII began to growl and maul on Demyx' left arm. Namine saw the vicious attack and shook her head. She placed her hands on Red XIII's neck and tried to pry him off from Demyx.

"No! Don't kill him!" Namine let out as he tried to pull Red XIII off.

"But Mom," Red XIII spoke through his gritted teeth which now held a piece of black coat, "he tried to kill you and me."

"I know...but who are we to decide who should die? Can't you see he's scared? So please...let him go."

Red XIII had confusion in his eyes but obeyed Namine's order. He got off from Demyx and sat down next to Namine. Demyx was shaking before he looked over to Namine. Fear and confusion were in his blue eyes. Namine extended her arm out to Demyx; offering it to help him up. Demyx looked at it then back at Namine's soft face and saw her soft smile. Slowly he extended his arm and took a hold of her hand. Namine helped Demyx up.

"There!" Namine let out as she continued to smile at Demyx. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a bit..." Demyx stopped in mid sentence as he noticed that Namine's attention was at Red XIII.

"Oh...you're hurt," Namine cooed as she took a hold of Red XIII's paw.

"It stings a bit, but I should be okay," Red XIII replied. "Anyway, what are we going to do with him?"

"Well, I can't go back to my Superior unless I bring back the White Witch," Demyx replied as he tried to cross his arms, but his left arm stung.

"I'm not leaving with you," Namine said. "I'm never going back to that place...who knows what they could do to me."

"You know...even I don't know what they would do to you. I'm just a lowly follower of the wizard, Xemnas."

"So...even you don't know? Hey! You're hurt too! I think you're even bleeding."

"Huh?" Demyx took a good look at his arm before he began to whine about it. "It hurts! Damn, I think it's even bleeding!"

"Well, come with me and I'll heal you. We should head over to Tifa's bar."

"Wait Namine," Red XIII said as he bit on the helm of Namine's white dress. "Are you sure it's a wise idea to take him to Tifa's bar? As soon as you mend him, what might stop him from going back to his Superior and telling him where Traverse Town is?"

"Oh, that's right!" Namine responded as she pointed a finger at Demyx. "You have to promise that if I mend you, you will have to not tell anyone about this place or else, I'll let Red XIII attack you again."

"Wha?" Demyx let out as he looked at Red XIII. Red XIII let out a growl. He showed his bared teeth; telling Demyx that he wasn't going to back down if he had the opportunity. "Okay, okay! I won't tell."

"Okay, then follow me," Namine replied as she took a hold of Demyx' right hand. Demyx let out a slight blush as he was led towards a bar. Red XIII kept his eyes on the blond sitar player just to make sure that he wasn't going to do anything deceitful. Namine opened the door to the bar and froze a bit to see Tifa working behind the counter. The martial artist smiled towards whoever entered her bar.

"Tifa?" Namine said. "I thought you left with Riku."

"I did but I came back to..." Tifa stopped as she saw the figure of Namine and Red XIII with Demyx standing behind them. "You!" Tifa shouted as she pointed at Demyx.

"Me what?" Demyx replied as he looked confused. It wasn't until his mind had registered Tifa's complexion and remembered the time when he had smashed his sitar against Tifa's body and almost drowned her with his water clones. "Oh shoot..."

"You bastard!" Tifa shouted as she jumped over the counter and ran towards Demyx. She pulled back her right fist and unleashed it towards Demyx. The brunette jabbed with her right then with her left until she performed a combo of punches on Demyx. All Demyx could do is take the punches that were coming to him. Tifa delivered an uppercut Demyx' gut then hooked kicked him.

"Tifa stop!" Namine shouted as she tried to pry Tifa off from Demyx. "Tifa, he isn't going to hurt us or anything. He made a promise to me that he wasn't going to tell anyone about this place."

"What?" Tifa replied. She had a hold of Demyx by the black coat. Demyx had blood trickling down his nose. "This guy promised not to say a word? What did you do to him?"

"Um...he was going to kidnap me..." Namine said.

"Kidnap? Then I'll..." Tifa growled as she ready another fist.

"He was, but now he isn't!" Namine protested. "I made him promise not to tell where this place is."

"This...piece of dirt promises that he won't tell anyone?" Tifa said as she shook Demyx.

"Yes! He won't do anything to us because he can't go back unless he takes me with him. I said I won't so he can't go anywhere. Could...you please put him down so I can try to mend his wounds."

Tifa loosen her grip as she brought Demyx down on the ground. She glared at him before she unleashed her hold on him. Namine walked over to one of Tifa's table and began to draw medicine and medical kits. Once they materialized, Namine took the kits and began to mend Demyx' wound. However, not having much experience with them, the little blond artist mended Demyx wrong. The sitar player looked at her attempts at mending him, but couldn't help but smile. Tifa let out a scoff before she walked over to Demyx and sat next to him.

"Here, let me help," Tifa replied as she took a hold of one of the gauze. "Namine, you did a good job at it, but you must be tired from what happened to you and should rest for a bit. Go on and have some milk. I have it in the tiny fridge next to the frozen martini and margarita glasses. I'll mend both him and your little lion friend."

"Okay!" Namine replied as she headed towards the fridge. "Hey, Red XIII do you want anything? There's some fish in here."

"I suppose so...if you know how to cook then I'll gladly eat it," Red XIII replied as he trotted next to Namine. Just as he sat down, Mog flew from on top of the fridge and sat on Red XIII's head. "Um...who's this?"

"Oh, that's Mog," Namine replied as she took out the fish. "I think he likes you. Take care of him, he's like your baby brother somewhat."

"Baby brother, huh?" Red XIII replied as he looked at the tiny Moogle that was on his head.

Tifa smiled at Namine and her group before she looked over at Demyx and frowned at him. Throughout the entire time, she didn't bother to look at Demyx. Just the thought of him being near her and mending him really disgusted her at that moment. _Why am I even doing this? _She kept thinking to herself as she finished mending the young man's arm. However, she had to do something about his broken nose, black eye, and tender chest. Taking a hold of the cotton balls, she dipped them in water and wiped the blood away from his nose. Once she was done, she placed two clean cottons balls inside of Demyx' nostrils. "Now I have to fix your eye." Tifa took the ice pack that was in the first aid kid and placed it on Demyx' face.

"Um...miss?" Demyx spoke softly.

"What is it?" Tifa hissed.

"You put the ice back on my neck."

"Fine, let me move it," Tifa retorted as she moved the ice pack.

"Um...if on my mouf," Demyx replied.

"Urg!" Tifa moved the ice pack to another location.

"It's on my nose."

"Damn!"

"Um...wouldn't it be better if you just looked at me so you know where to put the ice pack."

"It sickens me to even so much as glance at a heartless being like you!" Tifa retorted.

Upon hearing those words, Demyx felt rather hurt. He knew what he has done, but to hear it so bluntly really made him hurt on the inside. Namine stopped what she was doing and looked over at Tifa and Demyx. She frowned as she saw how sad Demyx looked. Tifa's scowl changed when she saw Namine's small frown. Tifa brought her eyes down on the ground and let out a sigh.

"Listen..." she said, "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to be so blunt."

"It's...alright," Demyx replied sadly. "I'm used to being called worst things than that. Everyone back at Castle Oblivion thought of me as nothing but dirt...I suppose...that's what I am."

"Oh come on...you're...not as bad as them..." Tifa said as she tried to swallow her pride.

"Heh...I sicken you so much you won't even look at me."

Tifa felt like a dagger just lunged itself into her head. He was right about that one. Tifa squinted her eyes as she slowly turned her head towards Demyx' direction. Once she looked at him, she made eye contact with the blond sitar player. Aside from the bruises and cuts, he showed a lot of sadness in the ocean of his blue eyes. For once, Tifa felt a bit sorry for him. She moved the ice pack to his blacken eye. "There," she spoke, "now you will feel better. And...you don't...sicken..."

"I don't sicken?" Demyx asked.

"No...you're...okay...I guess," Tifa replied with lack of better words.

"Really?" Demyx said.

"Yeah...now let me finish mending you. You still have a lot of bruises and if I recall...you might have some on your chest from...ahem...the blows I delivered to you. So if you don't mind..."

Demyx replied as he unzipped his black coat and took it off. Underneath his black coat he wore a pair of loose black leather pants with black boots. On his hands were his black gloves, but on his chest, he wore nothing. His bare chest was rather toned and slightly buff. If it weren't for the bruises, he'd probably have the perfect chest. On his right arm was a tattoo which read "IX" on it. On his left arm was a tattoo which had a strange symbol which looked just like Demyx' sitar. On Demyx' naval, a rather strange scar was visible. Tifa was amazed at what the dorky guy would look like from underneath his black coat. She let out a slight blush before she shook her thoughts away.

"I'm going to put an ointment on you for that bruise," Tifa replied as she fumbled to get the objects she wanted. "Now, hold still, okay?" It wasn't long before Tifa finished healing Demyx. Demyx smiled at her once she was done. His arm was bandaged up, he had an ice pack on his eye, and finally he had bandages wrapped around his torso. He got up from the chair and took a good look at himself.

"Thanks...um...I never caught your name," he said.

"Tifa..." Tifa replied.

"Tifa? Okay, I got it down! So um...what do I do now?"

"Beats me. You can't go back to your place...can you?"

"No..." Demyx replied as he looked down at the ground.

"Can't he stay with us, Tifa?" Namine asked from behind the kitchen. "I promise he'll be good because if he isn't, Red XIII will eat him up."

"Eeh!" Demyx let out as he looked at Red XIII.

"Well...he is afraid of Red XIII," Tifa said as she rolled her eyes, "I suppose if I keep an eye on him and under close supervision, I'm sure he'd do fine...as my personal slave."

"Slave?"

"Yep, from now on...if you want to stay with us for the meanwhile you're going to be my personal slave, meaning you have to do what I say. No complaints or anything. Also, you are to refrain from ever contacting your Superior in anyway. If I catch you doing that...I'll smash them."

"Smash what?" Demyx asked.

"Them," Tifa replied as she looked down at Demyx.

"No!" Demyx replied as he covered his tender area. "I'll do whatever you say, just don't do such a cruel thing."

"Then it's settled," Tifa pushed a couple of hairs away from her face. "He will be my slave from now on. I'll advice Prince Riku about this and I'm sure he will be okay with us capturing him. He's going to have to act like he's a captive that way this doesn't look funny. Oh, and Namine, don't put too much oil on that fish it will ruin it. Try to use some basil, paprika, oh and use my special spicy mango sauce that I have in the fridge."

Namine nodded as she tried to get the things, however the oil that was in her hand fell inside of the frying pan and caused a flame to appear. Tifa let out a yell as she ran over to Namine. Demyx looked on at the struggle between the girls and the flame and let out a sigh. _This is what is going to happen to me? _He thought. _My life lies on their fingertips...I don't know what's worse: being under Xemnas' orders or being Tifa's slave. _Having enough of their screaming, Demyx walked over to the frying pan and threw water at it. The flames stopped, however the fish was ruined and the stove was having a couple of problems at the moment.

"There," Demyx said, "Problem solved!"

"You..." Tifa hissed as she glared at Demyx. "My stove is ruined! Ah! You stupid idiot! How am I suppose to get a new one?"

"Um...you can buy one?"

"With what money? I'm flat broke and bar tending isn't exactly the money making business around here!"

"Um...I guess...I could?"

As Tifa and Demyx continued to argue, Namine looked rather upset at her cooking. However, a look from Red XIII made her smile. She showed him the fish and asked him to try it out. Upon tasting the fish, Red XIII thought it had a strange taste, however it wasn't completely terrible. He tried to enjoy the fish with a smile to make Namine happier. "It's okay if you don't like it," Namine said. "I understand that this dish was poorly made."

"No, it's rather good," Red XIII said. "You just need to improve, that's all."

"Okay..." Namine replied as she yawned.

"You're sleepy?"

"A bit...Tifa, I'm tired."

"Oh, then let's all go to Traverse Town," Tifa replied. "And remember, certain people that are to keep their mouths shut should be smart enough to do so."

Tifa opened the way to the underground city and pushed in Demyx. Namine followed him along with Red XIII and Mog. Tifa was the last one to get in. Once the group made it to the town, Demyx looked around. He had never seen anything like this before. His eyes soon rested upon the drawing of a red haired man with a black coat. Before he could say anything, Tifa pushed him towards the direction of her house. Namine and the rest followed the martial artist. Tifa stopped before a white building.

This building had a couple of scraps on its white paint, but nothing too grave. Along the small patches of grass were a couple of flowers which looked like they needed to be watered. Next to the flowers was a punching bag of some sort which stood on a steel stand. On the punching bag was a poster which had a picture of Sephiroth on it. The punching bag looked rather worn out. Tifa pushed in Demyx through the cloth door. Namine and the rest entered. The inside of Tifa's house looked somewhat cozy. A somewhat busted piano stood right next to the other punching bag which had a picture of Xemnas on it. Unlike the other houses, this house had a huge cloth which acted as a door which separated into another room.

"Barret," Tifa shouted, "I'm home."

"You closed early today?" a deep voice responded from behind the door.

"Let's just say...I had a minor complication today."

The door opened to reveal a dark skinned man with a rough beard and rough skin. Part of his chest was left open. Around his neck were a couple of dog tags which had a couple of names written down on them. He looked over at Namine and the rest before he set eyes on Demyx. "What the hell...?" he said. "Tifa, you brought the enemy into our town and even worse, our home!"

"Settle down, Barret," Tifa replied. "This is my prisoner and he is my slave from now on. Oh by the way, his name is Demyx. Demyx, this is Barret, my roommate. And he will be your roommate as well."

You know I hate them."

"And I hate them as much as you do, but you don't see me complaining!"

"Then you share the room with him then," Barret chided.

"I'm a woman...and you're putting me in a room with a man? You know what he could do? He could violate me and you wouldn't even notice."

Namine just giggled as the three adults began to argue with each other. However, she excused herself silently and headed off towards Lulu's home. Inside, Lulu looked rather worried as to why Namine wasn't there for dinner. Namine replied that she was okay and told her the entire story. Shocked, Lulu led Namine to bed and told her not to venture by herself on the surface.

"I see that you brought over your friends," Lulu said, "I'll try to make another bed for your pet."

"I'm not a pet," Red XIII said, "I'm her son."

"Heh, I see. Okay then, Red XIII, I'm sorry. I'll make a nice bed for you and a small bed for Mog."

Namine asked.

"Yes?"

"When are Riku and the others coming back?"

"Oh..." Lulu said as she looked away. "That I don't know. It all depends on how well their missions go. Sometimes they return before dawn, but other times they don't even return for about a week. Why just last time...we lost a friend of ours to them. She was captured and is held at Castle Oblivion. We tried to find a way to break her free, but we have no idea of where she was kept captive. Many of us believe she's in a top security area."

"Oh, why's that?"

"She's a very powerful mage. Perhaps the strongest we know. She was a young woman named Terra and she was by far the most kind out of all of us, and perhaps the most naive. She had such a strong light around her...it gives me chills just thinking of what they would do to poor Terra."

"Hey! Maybe I can help find Terra," Namine replied. "I can use my colored pencils and draw a way in to find Terra and..."

"Now is not the time," Lulu replied. "You're too young to get yourself into such danger."

"But Zidane and the others aren't even that older than me! Please Lulu, I can help!"

"It's really up to Riku to do say so. If he says its okay, then you can. As for now, go to sleep."

"Okay...good night everyone."

"Good night, Namine," Lulu replied.

"Good night, Mom," Red XIII said.

"Good night, Kupo!" Mog said.

Out by the base, Riku and his companions finished taking over it. Riku began to type into the super computer in order to hack into the self destruct mechanism. Zidane smirked at their captives. He gave off a couple of winks to the ladies before he was smacked behind his head by Freya. Riku just rolled his eyes as he continued to type in keys. Suddenly a strange screen pops up on his monitor.

"Alright!" he said. "I'm in."

"Hey boss," Zidane said, "you sure it was a wise idea to let that hot chick, Tifa leave? I mean we could have used her to help us."

"If we took all the capable fighters the base is left unguarded. We can't afford anyone to take Namine from us so we need someone who's strong and is able to take care of herself. Besides, we managed to pull this off without her help."

"Uh-huh, I guess you got so worried about your girlfriend," Zidane chided. "I'm sure the first thing you're going to do is run up to Namine and make sure that she's okay and such. If you were such a bold person like me, you'd probably kiss her."

"Which is a good thing that he isn't," Freya said, "We can't afford to have a skirt chasing king. Our prince isn't that type of man."

"Will you two please concentrate?" Riku replied. "I'm about to blow up this base and all you can think about is my love life."

"We're only concerned about your bloodline, milord. You deserve a graceful queen that will bring you much happiness and will rule just."

"And someone who's cute and bubbly, like Namine," Zidane said.

"Will you just shut up?" Riku said.

"Oh? You don't want Namine? Fine then, I'll take her. A girl like her needs a man that will honor and treasure her always."

"No! Leave her alone. We don't need someone to corrupt the White Witch of Legend."

"Ah, so you do like her."

"It's not a question of whether I like her or not. It's more like...you know what? Why am I even having this conversation with you? I need to finish this stupid code so are you ready to bust out of here or do you want to blow up with the base?"

"Fine fine, let's get out of this dump."

Riku typed in a couple of codes which began the self destruct sequence. Riku, Zidane, and Freya began to escape from the base. They had to go through many twists and turns of the base maze. They had finally reached the exit which all three of them couldn't be happier to see. However, a dark aura began to form right before they could exit the base. From the dark aura sprouted a figure.

The figure was a man with a black hood. Placing his gloved hands, he took down his hood to reveal his face. He had a strong face which was touched by his golden beard. His short hair was sandy blond as well. On his left ear were many piercings. The man smiled as he took out five cards from his pocket. "I was sent here to find Demyx and find out what is taking him so long," the man said, "so I came here since this is a sanctuary for us. However, I didn't expect to find rats like you here. Aren't you unlucky? And more importantly, Prince Riku is with them."

"You! You're that man I met earlier when I escaped from the castle," Riku said.

"You're correct. They call me number ten, but you can call me Luxord. How about we play a game of cards? If you win I'll let you live before this place self destructs, but if you lose you'll die here along with our henchmen you so left behind."

"You inconsiderate brute," Freya let out, "we have no time for your games!"

"Time is wasting and I don't hear you naming a game? Perhaps I should name a game for you? The game is fifty-two pick up. Pick up your friends before time runs out and you'll be free to go."

With a snap of his fingers, Luxord summoned large playing cards. Six of them encircled Zidane and Freya. Once the cards broke apart, they were gone. Riku looked appalled by it. However, he noticed that one of the cards had a picture of what appeared to be Zidane. However, the cards were placed down and were scattered across the ground into a pile of fifty other cards. Riku looked at the cards then back at Luxord.

"You better hurry your highness," Luxord said.

"Five minutes and fifteen seconds until self destruction," the intercom said.

"You have five minutes left. So choose wisely."

"Damn it..." Riku snarled as he looked at the cards. "This isn't good...this is not good at all..."

_Phew! I finished the chapter! I'm so glad that I did. In the next chapter, we're about to find out what is up with Marluxia, what Vexen has up his sleeve, and another man is involved in their projects. Also will Riku survive?_


End file.
